Death’s Door

Chapter 11

Temper, Temper

**

Sookie was still just as stunned as I was as we boarded the plane…

I wasn’t as sure about her reasons for being so shocked… for a sweet little southern girl, marriage would seem natural…

But me?

Marriage was nothing but paperwork to me… superfluous formalities. A blood bond was something that couldn’t be undone by a judge. Bonds were more profound and, as closely bound as the other version of Us was, made the idea of ‘I dos’ laughable. Taking vows was nothing compared to sharing blood.

I might have understood if Sookie wanted a wedding as a step towards bonding… but after the fact just seemed silly.

I just couldn’t imagine a reason for me, any me, to be willing to marry… it wasn’t as though it would increase her standing in Vampire circles since I wasn’t the only one that considered the ceremony senseless.

There had to be something else.

Since Jason went to the restroom as soon as we were shown to our seats, Sookie leaned over to whisper, “You’re being really quiet. What’s wrong?”

“I’m trying to think of a reason for why they’d get married.”

She shrugged. “Is loving each other not a good enough reason? I mean, I know you don’t remember seeing them together yet, but they were an amazing couple… it was like they could anticipate everything about the other.”

“I don’t doubt that, but I’ve never had any respect for the concept of modern marriages. A blood bond is permanent. It can’t be broken that I know of…”

“But a marriage is paperwork that can just be undone with more paperwork? Ok. I can see that.” I was, at least somewhat, surprised that she wasn’t offended that I didn’t buy into a staple of her culture.

“Since you know the details of bonding, can you think of a reason they could benefit from marriage in Human circles?”

“You can’t think of a reason that it could do any good when it comes to Vampires?”

I shook my head.

She was silent for a moment before she offered, “Kids are the only thing I can think of. Can you, like, adopt? Maybe they got married so they could adopt Hunter.” That was a tract I hadn’t thought of.

“I suppose it’s possible, but why would they adopt him? He has a living father and a Vampire mother.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know… maybe marrying Sookie was the only way to claim the tax deductions.”

“I doubt that had anything to do with tax shelters. I’ve never thought twice about charitable contributions as a write-off.”

“Then that’s the first thing I’m gonna ask the next time we see those sneaky assholes…”

“Are you angry that they’re married?”

“No. I’m a little bitter that her journal included everything from marking shirts to avoiding cabbage, but circumvented the fact that she’s married even though we freaking talked about those damn rings. I know I haven’t had as much blood as she has, but do you think I’ve had enough of your blood that I could kick her ass?”

I chuckled, “No. Not yet.”

As Jason came back to join us, she put her mouth against my cheek to breathe, “Lemme know when I do… cuz she’s gonna get it.”

**

Sookie pulled Sophocles from the pocket of my laptop bag and began reading while Jason fidgeted in his seat on the other side of his sister. He looked over his shoulder several times and seemed to get more and more anxious as time went on…

I’d just offered to glamour him to believe he was in a movie theater when my phone distracted us…

“Hello Pam. You have perfect timing. If you’d waited any longer a stewardess might have needed to admonish me for using my phone to render a commercial plane useless.”

“When you debate the laws of physics with a haughty, glorified waitress, remember that they prefer to be called ‘flight attendants’.” Sookie snickered and called us ‘horrible’.

“Thank you. What can I do for you tonight?”

“Well, did that ‘kill something’ feeling you had earlier have anything to do with the call I received from a very tetchy Shifter?”

“Possibly. What did I do?”

“You barged into his restaurant…”

“Walked into his ramshackle hut with an ABC license.”

“Glamoured local law enforcement…”

“Reported a crime.”

“Threatened to kill an innocent woman in front of her children and half of the town…”

“Threatened to kill the woman who stabbed Sookie in the chest, forcing a healing that couldn’t be completed for fear she’d come over prematurely. And yes, it was in front of her children, but she set the precedent by bringing them with her to stab Sookie.”

“Holy shit! How is she?”

“Still tender. Moving on.”

“Right… You were physical with him…”

“He pressed his mangy hide against me in an effort to push me away from Sookie’s assailant.”

“Then you informed the parties present that you were fleeing local jurisdiction and taking an unwilling slave with you.” Fuck. Merlotte could be criminally creative.

“He should write for Disney. How did you handle it?”

“I contacted the local law enforcement, of course. Andy Bellefleur has a boner for you. He basically repeated everything you just told me and called Jan VanLuik a ‘model citizen’ and said he’s happy to have you.”

“He’s very simple. Keep in mind, he’s the detective who spearheaded Jason’s trial.”

“I’m aware… Merlotte’s taken care of.”

“How did you do that?”

“I had detective Bellefleur meet the Packmaster and me at Merlotte’s. Dawson let Merlotte know, under no uncertain terms, that he picked the wrong Vampire to lie about because Jan VanLuik hasn’t ever hurt a fly that didn’t deserve it…”

“Beautiful. Tell Tray that now I owe him a blow job.” Not only did Pam and Sookie begin laughing, but I heard Tray start a bellowing laugh. I had to wonder why Pam was still in his company. Once they calmed down, I asked, “You repaid Bubba’s accounts for me, yes?”

“Done and Mayor Norris will most likely be calling to make arrangements to kiss your ass in person.” Sookie was curious enough to close the book.

“Good. I haven’t had my ass kissed in a while.”

“I’m sure… Now, are you going to tell me why you’re taking a vacation from your vacation?”

“It’s not as though we’re jet setting to luxurious destinations, Pam.”

“Of course not. You’re going to a Daemon infested region. 68 square miles of power whores and horrendous traffic. Are you eloping?” Even if I were eloping, I wouldn’t do it in DC. Seriously?

“No.”

“Are you sure… if you don’t invite me…”

“I’m positive.”

“Swear.”

“I swear in the name of Louboutin…” Sookie began snickering while Jason asked why he’d never heard of ‘that angel’.

“Swear on your Gutenberg Bible.”

“I hate it when you do that. You know it holds no sacred religious significance to me and you use the cash and historic value of the book to get me to do something ‘Christian’.” Sookie covered her mouth and turned away from me to muzzle her laughter. While Sookie was facing her brother he asked if I was a ‘Jew’. Obviously. Because that was the only other option. Goon.

“Swear on it.”

“Fine, but from now on, I’m only willing to swear on my First Folio. Understand?”

“Now swear that when you get married, I’m invited.” I was curious, but not curious enough to ask where the line of questioning came from. I decided that she’d gotten the same hints I had and left it alone.

“I swear on my First Folio that you’d be invited if I were to get married.”

“Good.”

“Other than missing the chance to annoy me, is everything else running smoothly?”

“I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re a whiner. This job isn’t nearly as hard as you made it out to be.” Nevermind that she was policing a fraction of the ill-tempered assholes I was and that the ones she had left were passive enough to hide from Witches for 3 months.

“I’m hanging up now.” I turned my phone off and put it in my laptop bag.

**

Sookie raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Stop looking at me like I’m a piece of meat. I’m starting to feel insecure.”

She threw her head back and cackled. “You ass! You’re anything but insecure. You have explaining to do and you’re stalling.”

“So?”

“Eric.”

“Sookie.”

“You’re being a jerk.”

“I am not. I’m waiting for you to tell me what you want me to explain.”

“Why is Mayor Norris going to…”

I cut her off when Jason jerked to look over his shoulder again. “Jason? Are you alright? I was serious when I offered to glamour…”

He shook his head and scowled at Sookie. “Is that you?”

She gave me a confused look before she turned back to him. “Is what me?”

He whispered, “In my damn head.”

“No. I’m not… I’m focusing on Eric why?”

“Cuz someone’s in my fucking head. Cain’t tell who though.”

“Jason. I swear. I’m not…”

“I know. I thought it was you at first. I only asked to make sure. I can feel it.”

“Are you sure you’re not just freaking out because you’ve never flown?”

He cringed and thought about it for a moment. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure. I know what it feels like. You been doin’ it since you’re a baby. Stop focusing on Eric for a minute. See if you can find it.”

She huffed and turned back to me, holding her hand out. “Can I borrow your mind for a minute?”

“I was wrong. I preferred being a piece of meat.”

She giggled and took my hand, closing her eyes to concentrate.

I felt a range of emotions as she rifled through the thoughts of the other passengers. Mumbling to let me know that she’d found two other Vampires, a Were and 8 minds that were ‘nothing but static’. Given that the bulk of the Supernaturals in DC were Daemons, that wasn’t surprising…

Sookie finally nodded and said, “Goddamn… You’re right, Jason. There’s a telepath in the back of the plane.”

“Great. Why the fuck she in my head?”

“Why do you think it’s a woman?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Why is she in my head?”

She shrugged and sat back, telling him to, “Ask her.”

He scowled at her, remaining quiet until a Hispanic woman was squatting next to his legs.

“Pilar Trejo. Federal Air Marshal.”

Jason griped, “Jason Stackhouse. Do I look like some kind of terrorist?”

The smile she gave him was as though she was humoring a small child. “I apologize, Mr. Stackhouse. You’re in the presence of two Vampires and quite nervous. I was making sure that you weren’t being threatened. How is it that you could tell I was listening to you?”

“Because my sister is a telepath. Having my brain invaded is an old hat. And I’m only with one Vampire.”

She looked over to Sookie and me and shook her head. “I’m counting two, sir. Have you been glamoured?”

Sookie giggled. “He’s fine. I’m not a Vampire. I’m the telepathic sister he mentioned. Sookie Stackhouse.”

Pilar shook Sookie’s hand, staring intently. “You… you feel like a Vampire.”

“I know. I’m concentrating on his thoughts.”

“You… you’re Human?”

Sookie nodded. “Yeah.”

Pilar was silent for another moment. “I’m not hearing a single thing from you. Dead calm…” She looked at me and cringed. “Sorry for the pun, but that’s what I’ve called it since I met my first Vampire.”

I nodded. “It’s fitting from what I understand. Is Sookie the first telepath you’ve met?”

She shook her head. “My mother and aunt were. My sister isn’t without a gift though… Miss Stackhouse is the first one I’ve met that I’m not related to.”

Jason grunted. “How the fuck did I end up with jackshit then?”

Pilar rolled her eyes at him. “Maybe you’re the milkman’s…”

“I am not!”

Sookie leaned closer to Pilar, ignoring her brother’s indignation to whisper, “Do Vampires, like, drool over how you smell?”

Pilar nodded. “Yeah. How did you know that?”

“We should ‘talk’ after takeoff as long as it won’t get in the way of work.”

Pilar nodded again… stunned would be the fitting word for the expression on her face.

**

Sookie was more than eager to compare notes with another telepath and I couldn’t blame her. Thanks to the journal, she knew that she wasn’t the only one, but it was her first opportunity to actually speak to one… well, one that wasn’t her.

As Pilar returned to the back of the plane, I leaned over to whisper in Sookie’s ear, “That ruins my plans for inducting you to the Mile High Club.”

Without missing a beat, she rubbed her cheek against mine, nibbled my ear, breathed, “I’m still waiting to hear about why Mayor Norris is Pro-Eric.”

“I can’t be sure why…”

She nibbled again. “He’s an old man with horrible eyesight… Even if you’d met him in person, he wouldn’t be able to appreciate how sexy you are.”

I chuckled, “The chewing was more encouraging than the flattery…”

Wrong choice of words.

Sookie whispered, “Then start talking,” as she chewed the side of my neck…

Raking her teeth…

Rolling her tongue…

Delicious little breaths…

Whispering the cruel threat to stop when I couldn’t explain right away…

“You’re wicked, Sookie. This isn’t fair.”

“You’re stalling.”

I don’t know why, but when she started to back away, I pushed her face back to my neck… and started talking even though it would’ve been smarter to let her stop…

“Maybe he’s a fan of Jan’s because he just contributed the money needed to build the new library the Mayor wants to build.”

Sookie giggled against my neck, making me grab the armrest so that I wouldn’t yank her onto my lap. “Why would you do that?”

I grunted, “Because I could.”

She giggled again, “Because you’re a closet sweetheart.”

Before I had the chance to deny being a ‘sweetheart’, her fucking brother griped, “Get a goddamn room, wouldya?”

Sookie sat back and punched his thigh. “We plan on it and so help me, if you call or knock, I’ll whoop your ass.”

Her face was flushed and her scent was too tempting…

She resorted to taking deep breaths to help her calm down, but before they started working, she punched Jason’s leg again…

**

I’d barely managed to begin calming down when she leaned over to whisper again, “I can say, in all honesty, I’ve never been this spun up before…”

“Sookie, now is not the time to tease me.”

“I’m not trying to tease you… I’m trying to ask if it’s because of having so much of your blood.”

I leaned away, but she followed. “Probably…” I didn’t realize I could whimper until that one word came out of my mouth.

“It was hard for me to behave before, but this is crazy… All I want to do is climb on top of you and…” My fucking mind filled in that blank with 1001 options before I could say anything.

“Sookie. Stop.”

She was frowning when she sat back. “Sorry.”

The last thing I wanted to do was make her feel like I was rejecting her.

I took her hand, leading her past her brother to the restroom, ignoring the stewardess who told us ‘one per bathroom’ and latched the door behind us.

Sookie shook her head as she tried to apologize again, but I interrupted her by putting her on the sink…

Wedging myself between her knees…

Pulling us together…

Kissing her until she ran out of air…

Chewing and rubbing against her…

She clawed my sides, wrapping her legs around mine…

The pounding on the door barely managed to bring me back to our reality…

I growled, “I can barely keep my hands off of your body as it is. I need you to behave, at least until we get to the hotel.”

She squeezed her thighs around me and whimpered, “How long is the flight?”

“That’s not helping. 3 ½ hours. You can wait.” She’d waited 25 years already… she could do it… She had to. Feeling my own urges made behaving nearly impossible. Feeling hers on top of that… I’d fail.

“Is this just because Jason’s with us? I’ll push him off the plane if it is.” That was just funny.

I chuckled, “This is just because of how much of my blood you had earlier. Think about it. You were just as chaste as ever last night. Nothing has happened since then to…”

“I wanted to last night.” Did. Not. Need. To. Hear. That.

“But you thought better of it for a reason…”

She whined, “I did not. I freaked out about everything stacked against us. I really wanted to…” She tightened her legs around me again.

I growled, “Sookie…”

“You want to too.”

“That’s not a secret. If you’re still interested, we’ll ‘scratch that itch’ when we get to the hotel.” Quoting her, the way she’d cheapened it, hoping like hell as a last ditch effort that she’d be offended, even if it lasted long enough that I had to apologize…

She cooed, “Straight to the hotel from the airport, right?” Oh, fuck me…

“Yes.”

“No pit stops. I don’t care how hungry Jason is. He can get room service.” She was trying to kill me. I was sure of it.

“He could starve for all I care.”

“No business. No unpacking.”

The more she said, the closer I got…

Fuck.

Feed.

I hadn’t ever been hungrier.

I hadn’t ever wanted anything more than what was going to happen in that hotel room…

Ignoring another round of pounding on the door, I growled, “None.”

I swayed, going right back to nuzzling her neck, taking in her scent… so sweet, so rich with want…

She purred, “No calls. No teasing.”

I made the mistake of kissing the dent behind her ear… I wanted to lick every goosebump it gave her. “Maybe some teasing.”

She sighed, “Just us.”

I agreed, “Just us.”

**

I couldn’t be sure, but it might’ve been the longest 5 hours of my life.

That’s right. Five hours.

The plane was delayed in Shreveport because a mob of deer wandered onto the runway. I might’ve been a little out of line when I suggested to the stewardess that the airport issue hunting permits so the antlered fuckers wouldn’t interfere with anyone’s plans… well, then I asked to be let off the plane so I could take care of the problem myself.

The only perk was Sookie’s opportunity to distract herself by ‘talking’ to Pilar. She spent an hour concentrating on the other telepath and the rest of the flight asleep… my urgency to get to our hotel was completely my own.

We had to divert to Akron because some asshole on our flight picked the wrong time to have fucking chest pains. I spent that time hoping the prick died because he could’ve just been stashed in a cubby until we were in DC, but with my luck he’d wait to blow his valves until we’d taken off again.

And when the pilot apologized that he was being delayed by Dulles because of the traffic and our other delays, I went to the cockpit and explained that he didn’t want to see what happened at dawn to Vampires close up. I was still on my way back to my seat when he announced that there wouldn’t be any further delays.

Never. Flying. Commercial. Again.

With Jason glamoured to think it was ‘lights out’, just for fun, and Sookie sleeping peacefully, I had nothing else to do but read. The temptation was there to read the journal and watch the video, but I behaved well enough to focus on rereading Sophocles.

We landed at 2:30… waited for our baggage until 3:10… thanks to the prick taxi driver we didn’t get to the hotel until 4:10… and for the 20 minutes it took for the clerk to check us in, I wondered what the fucking point was to making reservations ahead of time when I had to give every bit of information again. All the while, Sookie’s rushed feeling needled my consciousness. Every Human in our path was lucky to still have their head.

I nearly pushed Jason and the bellboy off the elevator on the 4^th floor and as soon as the doors closed and we were finally alone…

The last 5 floors were hell and when the doors opened, Sookie practically ran down the hall in search of our room while I had to turn back for the luggage I’d forgotten.

Several attempts to get the key card to work later, Sookie yelled, “Finally!” and grabbed the front of my shirt to tow me inside in her rush…

With the door swinging closed behind us, Sookie grabbed my belt, yanking to open my pants…

Sliding her hand in…

Taking hold…

Stretching up for a kiss…

More aggressive than I could’ve hoped…

Fuck.

“Sookie…”

She shook her head and grunted against my neck, “No.”

“Slow down.”

She scraped her teeth along my collarbone and repeated, “No.”

“Sookie…”

She tightened her hand around my cock and whimpered, “You promised. Just us.”

My eyes rolled back as she pumped. “We’re getting carried away.”

She panted, “Isn’t that the point?” Yes…

As much as I hated to do it, I pulled her hand away from me and the last squeeze she gave made me regret it.

I lounged on the bed, trying to seem calm while I waited for her to join me…

She whimpered from the spot I left her, “What? Do you… do you like, like have a thing for submissives or…”

“No. That couldn’t be further from what I have ‘a thing’ for. I’m trying to calm down.”

“Have you chilled out yet?”

“No. You haven’t either.”

“Why should I?”

“Because…”

“Hold on. Why should I? Seriously. It seems a little redundant to meditate before getting spun up agian.” Fuck… that was too logical given my mood and she could tell.

“I want you to, at least, start out levelheaded.”

She pitched her eyebrow and started creeping towards me. “How levelheaded do I need to be?”

“Levelheaded enough that you don’t threaten to punch anymore bellboys for recommending local sightseeing.”

She looked over one shoulder, then the other… putting her knees on the bed and crawling towards me. “I don’t see any bellboys, Eric.” Fuck.

She leaned over, pushing my shirt up and nibbling my side. I actually tried counting to ten, but ended up picturing 10 different positions I wanted to enjoy… well, 42.

“Sookie…”

She straddled me, leaning over to nibble my bottom lip. I saw it coming. I knew she was going to do it, but I couldn’t make myself stop her…

“Sookie… you’re the one who’s been behaving. All of a sudden…” I forgot what I was saying for a moment when she reached into my pants again. “All of a sudden, you’re practically raping me on a plane… it’s not like you. This is because of my blood.”

“I think I remember hearing something about Vampire blood not changing who a person is, just intensifying certain characteristics.” Shit.

“Sookie, you’re being very insistent for a virgin.”

“You’re being very inhibited for a Vampire.”

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

The smirk on her lips answered for her. It was working…

I flipped us over, pinning her hands to the bed. “I don’t want you to regret anything.”

“I won’t…”

“You say that now, but when was the last time you begged for sex?”

“When was the last time I was with someone I wanted to have sex with? Never. See. You aren’t winning.”

“I’m not trying to win. I just don’t want you to blame my blood later.”

“Fine. Whatever. Let me go.”

I let her go, sitting back on the bed between her ankles. “I don’t want you be angry…”

By the time I’d said that much, she’d rolled from the bed to run to the bathroom and lock herself in.

Everything was going marvelously.

**

I listened while she showered, heavy-handedly abusing everything she touched and throwing her clothes and shoes at the door.

Her mood only worsened while she sulked… feeling angry and hurt and mumbling nasty little insults under her breath.

She emerged wrapped in a towel and violently avoided eye contact on her way to her suitcase, rummaging for a nightshirt, slipping it on and throwing the towel at me when she yanked a pair of pillows from the bed.

She stomped to the other side of the room to toss herself on the sofa… and I tried to stay where I was… I really did, but I didn’t want her to fume until I could rise.

I sat on the sofa behind her knees only to have her grumble, “You’re being a girl. Go away.”

“A girl?”

“You wanted me to get the fuck away from you. I’m away. You won… now leave me alone.”

“Please, tell me you’re fucking with me. I didn’t want you to go away.”

“Just go to bed.”

“Not until I don’t have a choice. I don’t want to leave you raging through the hotel if I can help it. This isn’t what I wanted.”

“Sounds like we’re even. Goodnight.”

“We’re far from even. You’re being a brat because I wanted to calm down enough to avoid hurting you.”

“And you’re whining because I backed off. Like I said, you’re being a girl.”

“You haven’t backed off. You’re throwing a tantrum.”

I took it upon myself to translate her silence as ‘fuck you’.

“Do you want to stay angry all day? Snarl at me while we scatter Adele’s ashes?”

“What do you care? We’re on ice… now leave me alone.”

“Sookie…”

“Leave me alone, or I’ll go stay in Jason’s room.”

“No…”

As soon as I said it, Sookie put her foot against my side and shoved me off of the sofa to put me on my ass.

Oh really?

I lifted the front of the sofa, tipping it backwards and listening to Sookie tumble on the other side.

It only took a moment for her to recover… righting the furniture I’d turned over and hitting my back with it in the process…

Snapping, “Feel better, you big baby?” as she tried to pass me to lie back down.

I snatched her hand, yanking her down to eye level. “No. Do you?”

“Not a bit. Let me go.”

“Stop being like this…”

“I would, but some asshole is keeping me from going to sleep. Be a doll and call the front desk, will ya?”

“I’m not amused, Sookie. All I wanted to do was calm down.”

She yanked her arm out of my grip and tossed herself on the sofa again. “Then go work on that.”

“Come to bed with me.”

“No.”

“Why not? Explain why you’re…”

“Goodnight.”

“Tell me why you’re acting like this.”

“I’m allowed to be annoyed that you’re running hot and cold on me. Let me sleep, Eric.”

“I’m not running hot and cold…” I stood and went to the bed. “It’s probably better that you rest. You’re less of a bitch in your sleep.”

As expected, by the time I’d taken my clothes off and slid between the sheets, she was standing at the foot of the bed with her arms crossed.

“That was shitty.”

“Now you want to talk? If I’d known that, I’d have called you a bitch sooner.”

“I’m sick of this stupid fucking game you’re playing. I’m done.”

“What fucking game?”

“Saying shit like your favorite place is between my legs and then speeding out of the room like your hair’s on fire… giving me your blood and refusing to take mine… claiming that you’d turn me before you left Bon Temps and then acting like it’s a ridiculous notion to marry me… promising me that we’ll all but ruin the room and then hitting the damn brakes as soon as we get here. You’ve been stringing me along and I don’t think it’s funny.”

“Stringing you along! That’s fucking rich! You’ve been teasing and flirting since we pulled into your driveway Sunday night.”

“I. Have. Not!”

“You have! And now you’re condemning me for not taking advantage of you… for controlling myself!”

“What you call ‘controlling yourself’ is driving me up the fucking wall! You’ve been flirting and touching me every chance you can, but as soon as we’re alone in a room with a bed, you act like you’re scared to have sex… If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you’re the virgin.”

“In my experience, most girls are more timid about losing their virginity, Sookie. Thanks to having so much of my blood, you weren’t thinking about that…”

She screeched, slapping her hands over her mouth. “You don’t remember!” She was on the verge of tears.

I shook my head, actually wishing dawn was closer so the arguing would stop. “What have I forgotten now?”

She whined, “Eric… the other night… when you healed my neck… we fooled around.”

“What do you mean ‘fooled around’?”

She put her knees on the bed and crawled over until her legs were against my side. She wasn’t the slightest bit angry all of a sudden. She folded herself in half to rest her forehead on my shoulder. “I’m soooooo sorry… I… I thought you were just fishing, trying to get me to talk dirty or something. I didn’t realize you really didn’t remember.” What the fuck?

“I’m lost? When was this?”

“Last night when you rose… I was trying to tell you about Jason being home… you wanted to have sex while I explained, but I knew I wouldn’t have kept talking…”

“Right. You said you doubted you’d stay coherent… What did… what the fuck did I do?”

“When I took your blood, WE got… well, handsy.”

“Define handsy.”

“We… you know… we groped and made out…”

“I molested you.” Fuckfuckfuck…

“NO! I was willing.”

“What did I do to you?”

“I can look it up, but I think the technical term is ‘finger bang’…” FUCK!

“Tell me you’re joking. This is your twisted, wicked sense of humor. The room didn’t smell like sex… There wasn’t any of your blood on the bed…”

“When you died, I ran downstairs to take a quick shower because your blood and… well, I was sticky… I guess the room aired out a little.”

“Your blood?”

“I barely bled… I’d just had a couple mouthfuls of your blood though…”

“So it healed you… Fuck!”

“What?”

“I could’ve hurt you… When I first rose last night and heard Tray leaving the message that he hadn’t heard from you, I turned my room inside out trying to figure out what I’d done to you. I couldn’t remember what happened after you took my blood…”

“You didn’t hurt me. At all. I was surprised…” She buried her face in her hands. “I’m such a bitch! I’m sorry! I thought you were… I thought… I thought you were annoyed that I wanted to… the way you and Pam have talked about fangbangers groveling…” Fuck. No wonder.

“No. When I offered you anything and you opted for cuddling, I assumed I’d be testing my willpower for a while…  Since I don’t remember what happened, I assumed you were impulsively skipping a few steps because of my blood, if not ignoring them altogether.”

She whimpered, “I called you an asshole…”

“I’m more offended that you called me a girl.”

“And kicked you…”

“And threw a towel at my head.”

“And you were just being… thoughtful… I’m such a bitch!”

I had to struggle to take her hands away from her face, pulling her down to lie on the bed was another effort entirely. “To clarify… my favorite place is between your legs, but I left the room because I needed to think about what to do about Arlene since you wouldn’t let me bleed her for hurting you… I’ve been resisting taking your blood because it was difficult enough for me to focus after marking you. It only took a couple of drops for me to realize everything we’ve read about your taste is an epic understatement… I will bring you over if I can’t find another way to safely keep you. The idea of marrying you isn’t ridiculous, just surprising given that I’ve never put any stock in the practice. You pretended to see my perspective earlier too. Don’t do that. If you want a clearer reason, then tell me instead of assuming…”

“I understood at the time but then… I don’t know what I was thinking… I was overreacting and I twisted everything… And you didn’t hit the brakes as soon as we got to the room, you just didn’t realize there wasn’t a speed bump!” She groaned into the mattress.

“And after everything… I’m only pissed that I don’t remember it.” I was just happy to solve the problem… confused about why I wasn’t resentful, but relieved nonetheless. It might have had something to do with the fact that Sookie was completely mortified. It wasn’t that I was enjoying it, but it was reassuring to feel that she regretted our argument.

She moped, “I barely remember it… it’s hazy. Why do you think it happened like that though? Do you remember healing me today? I remember it.”

“I’m going to assume that your life took precedence over your pussy… I was too worried to think about anything else.”

“Have I said I’m sorry? Because I am… I’m so sorry.”

“It was a misunderstanding. We were both missing a valuable piece of information.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“That’s annoying… If you’re going to mewl, do it while we get back on track.”

She snickered into her hands. “Right back to thinking about sex, huh?”

“I never stopped. You didn’t put panties on when you left the shower.”

“I thought about it, but I would’ve tripped trying to get them on.”

I rolled to my side and pulled her closer. “Were you afraid you’d laugh or afraid you’d hurt yourself?”

“Afraid you’d keep me from falling so I’d have to chill my ass out.” At least she admitted to that.

I ran my hand along the back of her leg, earning a whimper, “I own it. Are you willing to admit all you think about is sex?”

“Not sex. You’re what I think about… Sex is just a subcategory. Now that I’ve won our argument, what do you want to do until dawn?”

She rolled to face me as she snickered, “Nice segue… and you didn’t win the argument…”

“I think I did. I remained calm without letting emotions blind me to solving the problem while you flew off the handle…”

She cut me off by growling and hiding her head under my chin. “Are you going to keep score?”

I pulled her leg up, resting her knee on my hip… “No. I’m going to hope I have time to teach you to keep your temper before I bring you over.”

She whispered against my neck to ask, “Are you desensitizing me to the idea?”

I reached between us, finding her clit… I barely touched her before she was trembling, breathing ragged breaths against me. “Do you feel desensitized?”

Her hips twitched and she whimpered, “No.”

I chuckled, “I think the more fitting word is ‘tempering’… I’m getting you used to the idea that I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”

Instead of answering, she began kissing, nibbling my neck, spurring me like she had on the plane.

“Is it working?”

She moved her hips with my hand and breathed, “I’m not admitting to anything.”

I rubbed harder, making her groan and dig her nails into my arm. I asked, “Will you at least tell me who you belong to?”

She grunted, riding my fingers as soon as I slid them into her, trying to catch her breath to answer, but giving up… “You… Your turn.”

“My turn for what?”

She panted, so close to cumming her face was pained. “Who do you belong to?” Sookie. Signed, sealed and notarized… she owned me.

I teased, “You don’t already know?”

“You already knew the…” She grabbed my wrist thinking it would slow me down. “You already… knew… you just want… wanted to hear it.”

I leaned over, pushing her to her back, starting at her neck… her shoulder… all the way down to the most delicious nipple to ever touch my lips… forgetting the question until she gasped to ask again. “You know I belong to Tina.”

She squeaked out a giggle and kicked the back of my leg. “Who has dibs after Tina’s done with you then?”

She arched her back as she started to cum, nicking her nipple and the taste left me too dazed to keep teasing… I growled, “You,” as I watched her body contort… letting myself get drunk on the scent filling the room…

‘Starting slow’ nearly killed me…

The more patient I tried to be, the more she pushed…

My blood…

She was insistent, yet innocent…. Craving, yet clueless…

No…

Slow only lasted until I rolled over, putting her on top.

Pulling her night shirt off…

Biting through my lip as she pushed down, taking me in…

Her cum and sweat gluing our thighs together…

Still throbbing…

Twitching…

Letting me move her hips as she leaned over, licking the trickle of my blood from my lip…

Moaning…

Whining…

Crying…

Before I ever took over…

Nonstop.

No breaks.

Not for the room phone…

Not for my cell or hers…

Not for the knocking on the door…

Not for her to calm down.

What would the point be? Calming down just to get spun up again?

None…

It still wasn’t enough…

Stopping, pulling away from her to tell her sunrise was going to end our fun was miserable.

She punched the bed and sniffled, cursing the sun and asking when Alaska was dark 24/7…

I was almost gone, heavy from being pulled when Sookie shouted, “NO!” and flipped over to face me.

I was groggy enough that her movement seemed instant. “No what?”

She blurted, “We can cheat! If we exchange… It’s in the journal… the video. Hours. Remember?” How could I forget that?

“We’d be bonded.”

“You’re going to turn me anyway… Bite me before you die.” She was already pulling her hair away from her neck to offer it. There was no time to argue. No escape from the temptation…

She only gave me a moment to enjoy the flavor, the way her blood filled me before she bit my shoulder…

The insanity of feeling everything rushing back to me while losing control of myself was terrifying…