Chapter 4

AN: Thanks for reading, and thank you to Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball for these wonderful characters. Also, this is unbeta’d, so apologies for any boo boo’s you may encounter along the way.

Sookie opened her eyes, blinking several times before they came into focus. The first thing she saw was the rotating blades of a ceiling fan, and as she slowly turned her head, she realized that she was lying down someplace unfamiliar to her. Startled, she quickly attempted to sit up, but the pain in her head and neck forced her to lie back down.

“You should take it easy”, a voice said from the other side of the room.

Fear jetted through her body at the sound of his voice. As her focus settled, there they were….those stormy blue gray eyes that seemed to show up in her moments of crises of late. Sookie was thoroughly confused. Why would Dr. Northman be here? And where exactly was ‘here’? And what the hell was that light? She had so many questions and they began to overwhelm her. Panic started to set in.

Eric could see that the current situation was about to take a very bad turn for the worse…not that things could get too much worse, because from Eric’s perspective, things were already pretty fucking bad. He could hear her heart rate increasing and her breaths becoming quick and shallow. He knew she was fast approaching overload. There was a part of him that would have been okay with her passing out again. He needed time – time to figure out what to do with her and what story to tell. Frankly, he needed time to figure out how to fix this clusterfuck he’d found himself in, but, just then, Sookie did the unexpected. She reigned in her fear and the panic that threatened, and replaced it with anger and purpose. She straightened her back, lifted her head, and looked directly into his eyes and said,
“You sonofabitch! Who are? Why am I here? Are you even a fuckin’ doctor? Where’s Jason? Did you do something to him? Tell me! Tell me wha…”

“STOP!” Eric interrupted. He couldn’t take the verbal assault and he needed to stop it. Shocked by Eric’s sudden outburst, Sookie just stared at him.

Caught in his gaze, Eric slowly approached her. “You will remember nothing of this evening. You will only remember visiting your brother and driving home safely. Do you understand?” he said in his most soothing and hypnotic voice.

Shaking off the strange sensation she felt in her head, she went off. “Are you a frickin’ psycho?! What do you mean I’ll remember nothing? That ain’t likely to happen anytime soon, buddy!” and with that, Sookie barreled into him. Eric didn’t budge…much, but he was caught off guard. No one had resisted his glamour before. Sookie followed up with a punch to the nose drawing blood and causing a moment of sharp pain in his face. He’d heal quickly, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel pain.

A moment of disorientation was all Sookie needed, as she shouldered into him again making him stumble. She twisted to the right, spun around, and dodged under his right arm and made a run for the door. Her hand was on the door knob when she felt him grab her from behind. She screamed and kicked and scratched, doing anything she could do to fight him off, but he was too strong. A hand covered her mouth and an arm surrounded her, forcibly stilling her body.

“Sookie” Eric gently said. “I’m not going to hurt you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Sookie shook her head violently, muffled sounds emanating from behind his hand.

“Sookie. I swear it. I won’t hurt you. Would you, please, stop fighting me? We can talk.”

Her breathing labored, Sookie finally stopped struggling. A minute had passed with neither one of them saying a thing or moving an inch. Realizing she had nothing to lose in listening, Sookie shook her head in agreement. She also wanted to be free from his grasp so she could be prepared to make another escape attempt.

Eric very slowly loosened his grip from her mouth and her body. When he had finally let go completely, he took a step backwards with his hands drawn up. Sookie slowly turned and eyed him with suspicion. With a wave of his hand, Eric gestured for her to take a seat, but Sookie refused. She wasn’t budging. She liked her proximity to the door and the last thing she wanted to do was get comfortable.

Eric sighed and moved away going back to the chair he had been sitting in earlier. She was no match for his speed, so allowing her to feel in control was of little consequence to him.

“You have questions?” Eric asked.

Nodding, Sookie slowly and deliberately asked “Where am I?”

Eric pondered her question unsure what to tell her. He supposed that she would be unable to find her way back (if he let her go) so there was probably no harm in telling her the truth.

“This is my home” was all he volunteered.

“And how did I get here?”

“I found you and brought you here”

‘Okay, this is how it’s going to go’ Sookie thought to herself as Eric gave his succinct answers.

“What happened?”

“Hmmm….a difficult question.” Unsure of what tell her, he finally said, “There was an accident. I came upon you, and here we are.”

Frustrated, Sookie said “You’re not telling me everything….actually it’s practically nothing! There’s more to this than you’re telling me and I want to know. I think I have a right to know.”

“I’m not prepared to tell you more.” Eric said smugly, enjoying her fire

Even though she wanted to stomp her feet and have a fit, Sookie refused to show him anything but the fighter she was. Deciding to go for the big question, she took a deep breath and asked “Who are you? I know you’re more than who you say you are?”

“Another difficult question.”

“I don’t give a rat’s behind how difficult you think that question is. Something’s not right, and you’re taking care of my brother, so I need to know Who. You. Are.”

“Sookie, I am a doctor, so the welfare of your brother is in no danger from me.”

“You’re more than that, Dr. Northman. I saw you when I was in that ditch. And what were you trying to do earlier? It felt weird, and saying what I was going to remember? Something’s going on Dr. Northman, and I won’t stop asking until you tell me.”

Eric felt cornered by all of her questions he had no intention of answering and he didn’t like that feeling. A lifetime of instinctual self-protection kicked in. His mind was processing everything that had happened since he’d met Sookie Stackhouse. He had an unnatural attraction to her, and she couldn’t be glamoured. Then there was the light – the light that seemed to be targeting her…specifically. He couldn’t say exactly what was going on, but something was different about her. If he had to guess, he would say she was otherworldly. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced of it.

Eric stood and slowly approached her. Sookie watched with trepidation as he made his way to her. When he had landed directly in front of her, he said rhetorically, “ So you want to know who I am.” SNICK. Sookie gasped and stepped back at the vision of Eric’s two sharp, white fangs filling his mouth. “I think the better question is WHAT. ARE. YOU. Sookie Stackhouse?”

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