EPOV
I may be an optimist, but I noticed that she didn`t say “I`m not going to have sex with you – period” and it made me grab her coat, scoop her up and run to the car parked outside of the village. Before she even finished her protest over being placed in the passenger’s seat, I had her buckled up and me behind the wheel.
I drove like a bat out of Hell and even faster than my usual driving. If Sookie didn`t have such a slow, little car, I would have been flying down the country roads.
The planned destination was the house in Næstved, figuring it would be the safer of Sookie`s two houses. At the farm, Sookie had already been attacked by weres and the fucking polar bear.
I had to talk to her about that and what Quinn had revealed. I started with a bit that puzzled me.
“Sookie, I want to thank you for warning me about the silver net.”
“Oh, so you did hear me?” She smiled.
“Yes, I have vampire hearing and it did give me an advantage to know about the net a second before it fell over my head. But how did you know about it. Quinn told me he had locked you in the room before he made the trap.” I looked over at Sookie.
She looked out the window on her side of the car and sighed.
“I`ll tell you later, Erik.”
This made me think. What was the big secret here? If she had seen the net before being locked up or if she had had a peephole in her imprisonment, it couldn`t be such a big secret. There had to be another reason – something Sookie didn`t trust me enough to know. Not yet, at least.
My thoughts came back to Quinn. He had been picked up by Rasmus and would probably be held in a holding cell at the Queen`s palace until his fate was decided. It could go either way. The vampires might choose to help him retrieve his mother or they might turn him over to the police. Fifty years ago they might have killed him, but things had changed here in Denmark. I wasn`t sure I liked the changes. Killing troublesome weres is a much more definitive way of dealing with it.
I was pleased to have the help and support from Rasmus and the queen. I had come to Denmark because I had hoped they would help me, but I had been far from sure of it. I had helped the queen in her quest to safeguard the human royal family, her descendants, and I had saved Rasmus more than once, but one never knows with vampires.
Of course I would have preferred them to support me in the open, but I could see why that was impossible. Telling the whole vampire world that I had killed King de Castro was a perfect way of making everyone shun me. Victor Madden was a cunning bastard.
For Queen Thyra to support me, even secretly, was a great honor and would help me immensely.
I looked over at Sookie and saw her holding on to the door with a white-knuckled hand.
She saw me looking at her and said: “Please, Erik, keep your eyes on the road if you insist on going at this speed.”
I laughed. “Sookie, you are perfectly safe with me.”
“Hmm, it seems I`ve had nothing but trouble since you came into my life.” She didn`t sound angry, but I still felt uncomfortable with the statement. Probably because she was right.
“Yes, it is very unfortunate that my enemies go through you to get to me. I will do my very best to keep you safe, but that means you can`t go running off in the daytime.” I winked at her.
“Let`s make a deal, Erik. If you don`t try to kill me again, I won`t run off when you`re asleep. OK?” She smiled.
I laughed and wanted to give her a warm (well, as warm as a cold vampire can get) hug for joking about the very thing she had yelled at me for, just 12 hours or so ago.
“I`ll do my best not to drain you in the future.”
Then I turned serious. “Why did you leave me? I wanted to talk to you about what happened…”
She held up a hand as to stop me. “Erik, you might as well learn this now. I`m not good at these big, important conversations. Never have been, and probably never will be. Sam spent several years just convincing me to marry him because I ran every time he started the conversation. It`s not very mature, but it`s who I am.”
I decided to change the topic. “Tell me about Sam.” I asked her.
“He was my husband, I loved him very much, now he`s dead and I don`t really want to talk about it.”
We drove in silence for some time. I respected Sookie for not wanting to talk about her life with Sam, but I would prefer to know more. A completely new experience for me because usually I would prefer to know as little as possible about women in my life. Sookie was different. I wanted to know about her – I wanted to know her. Of course I also wanted to fuck her.
My thoughts kept coming back to the fact that we would be in a house with a bed very soon. I had never lusted for someone as I lusted for Sookie. At least not someone I had already had. My foot was even heavier on the gas.
SPOV
The windows of the car were almost foggy with lust. Some of it came from me, but I was mainly occupied with staying alive riding at a sweat-breaking speed through all the twists and turns of the Danish country roads.
My hand still hurt a bit, but it was getting better. What was I thinking hitting Quinn like that? I don`t condone violence. And to leave him alone with an Erik with murder in his eyes? I`m not a vindictive person, am I?
I hated Quinn for abducting me. I knew the desperation behind his actions, but I couldn`t really find it in me to forgive him. That didn`t mean I could sink to his level.
I wondered where Quinn was now and how he was doing.
A new wave of lust hit me. I looked out the window and saw the city sign of Næstved. Someone was apparently looking forward to getting home to Sam`s house. Someone who had sung “Kvinde min” in my ear. My heart beat twice just thinking about it. He had no idea how I felt about that song, but I still loved the way he whispered the lyrics in my ear, like he meant it. I also loved the way he saved me, kissed me and embraced me.
I forced my mind back to last night. Some of it just jumped to my brain and I tried to push all the sex-memories away. I had to remember how he almost drained me. I had to keep some distance. I mean, what kind of a woman goes right back to a man who has almost killed her?
Deep down, I knew the answer: Me.
EPOV
Finally we pulled into the driveway of the house in Næstved. I parked the car and looked at her, not really knowing where I had her. During the drive, it felt so easy. I would just scoop her up, get her in bed, and fuck her `til the morning lights forced me underground.
Now I was not so sure. This was a new feeling for me.
“Erik, I totally forgot to buy food on the way home.” She started to get out of the car. “I`ll order a pizza and some blood for you.”
I got out of the car too. We went inside. A plan started to form in my head.
When Sookie pulled out her phone to call the all-night pizzeria, I made some arrangements for her. When I came out in the living room again I heard her say “you`ll be here in an hour?” to the phone and I knew just how much time I had. I smiled and scooped her up in my arms. I carried her to the bathroom where the bathtub was full of hot water, courtesy of your friendly Viking vampire.
I carefully undressed her of the bathrobe. It had definitely seen better days. I was just about to lower her in the water, when she stopped me.
“Human needs, Erik.” She nodded at the toilet.
I left her alone for some minutes, but came back after I had heard the flush. She was already in the tub, leaning back with her eyes closed. The bathtub wasn`t really big enough for both her and me, but I still got up in it and sat between her legs, facing her.