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Agreeing to be Eric’s changed some things, but not everything. He was still a high handed ass.
I stood in Eric’s office at Fangtasia. We’d spoken briefly just after sunset, where he’d promised, or maybe threatened was a better word, to have my screen door repaired, but I hadn’t seen him since. He said he had appointments that needed to be taken care of quickly. I assumed at least one of those was to tell inform everyone who needed to be told in my change in status. I hoped Eric wouldn’t rub it in when he told Bill. He probably would.
I decided to check in at Eric’s office since we had been at my place last night. It just seemed, I don’t know, fair somehow. Plus I was pretty sure he’d go there at some point, whereas I wasn’t sure if he’d come back to my house tonight.
Ginger showed me to the office and I found Pam primping. For someone so beautiful, she seemed to worry about her appearance an awful lot. Ginger closed the door leaving me alone with Pam.
“Well, at least you came to your senses,” she stated bluntly.
I know confusion showed on my face. “You’ve bonded with Eric.”
“How do you know that? Did he tell you?” I demanded.
“You’ve taken his blood. I can smell it on you.”
“Eww.” I thought for a moment. “How good is a vampire’s sense of smell anyway?”
Pam actually seemed to take my question seriously. She replied after a moment. “It really depends on the vampire, though we all have a better sense of smell than humans. But it’s a gift like many things. I once met a vampire who could smell a drop of blood more than half a mile away. That’s a better sense of smell than a shark.”
I couldn’t help but be impressed by that information. I also privately hoped I’d never be within half a mile of that vampire at my time of the month. I changed the subject.
“Are you expecting Eric back tonight?”
“He usually checks in to count receipts before he goes to ground.”
“I’ll wait for him here, if that’s all right with you.”
“Of course.” She started to leave the office but stopped. “You were smart to take Eric’s offer With what you are, faerie princess, you needed to be somebody’s or you wouldn’t be at all. Eric is handsome, he’s rich, and in his own way, he cares about you. He really does.”
Pam looked a little disgusted at the thought of caring about anything.
“Well, it’s done now. I guess we’ll see what happens next.”
_____
I waited in the office until I had to pee. Dealing with Jessica drinking some fangbanger in the ladies’ room was certainly not my favorite thing since I’d been back. I should have known she’d take Bill’s side, even though she probably didn’t know half of what had happened.
By that point I was irritated and tired and just wanted to go home. I figured Pam would tell Eric that I’d come by. If he wanted to see me, he knew where I lived.
I drove back to Bon Temp unsure if I’d made the right decision when it came to Eric, but positive I’d made the right one when it came to Bill. Jessica didn’t want me to be her stepmom, and I certainly had no desire either.
Just before the turn off to Hummingbird Lane I saw the soft glow of moonlight reflecting off skin. A shirtless man was walking down the side of the road.
As I got closer I realized it was Eric, but when I repeatedly called out his name, he looked confused and lost. He asked who I was, even as he kept walking. My reply of “Sookie” got a blank look. When I said he knew me, he denied it.
Something was obviously wrong with him. I didn’t think vampires could get sick, but maybe he’d had some bad blood tonight. Blood from an addict or a bag of blood that had been laced with something.
I saw the moment he smelled me. He’s head tilted like a hound catching the scent of a deer.
“Why do you smell so good?” He inhaled deeply. When his eyes reopened they were hungry.
“Mine.”
He stuck his head in through the window as I scrambled over the passenger seat and out of the car. I knew it was stupid to run from a vampire, but my fight or flight instincts took over and said flight was my best option.
In an instant he had vamped in front of me, fangs bared. I skidded to a stop, pulled my arm back, and put every ounce of force behind the punch I threw at his admittedly handsome face. The impact wiped the hunger away.
“I’m not your fucking dinner.”
Once again he looked lost and confused.
“What’d you do that for? You broke my nose.”
“Oh, please, it’ll heal in five minutes. You’re a vampire,” I retorted.
“I know I’m a vampire, Snookie” he replied.
“It’s Sookie.”
“I know what I am. I just don’t know who I am.” He looked more open and honest than I had ever seen him, or any other vampire for that matter. He was telling the truth.
Fuck!