A/N) This will be a multi-chapter story. Which I hope to post at a later time. I would like to give a shout out to American Android for reviewing this chapter. Thanks girl! 🙂 Set one week after DTTW. Eric has regained his memories but not his time with Sookie.

Rated- MA, violence, drama and sexual situations.

Disclaimer: I do not own SVM universe, Charlaine Harris does and she opened my eyes to a world and characters I never knew existed. She will forever have my thanks. Now to rearrange her cosmos. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 1

“Maybe we can go out…on a date, again. I would love to date you, Sookie.” Sam stopped under the one lamppost of the Merlotte’s employee’s parking lot. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looking at his boot as he kicked a rock away. His graying reddish brown hair catching every bit of light from above.

“Uh, Sam. I can’t, I’m real sorry. No.” Sookie felt blind sighted by his sudden attentiveness. Confused really. She was madly in love with Eric Northman. Even if said vampire currently could not remember their amazing time together. Sookie did.

Yes, she thought. They were having some issues at the moment. Okay, issues was an understatement to the status of their current relationship. Sookie knew what she and Eric had meant to each other, when he was without his memories. What they had built together and what she craved to have again.

Eric did not know what they shared. A fact that Sookie knew aggravated him to no end. Her guilt over that particular miscalculation, in not telling him everything the moment he was back to himself, was slowly tearing her apart.

Sookie claimed to love him in her heart and soul. But when faced with the opportunity to tell him, tell Eric exactly what they meant to each other. How he held her. How she told him about her day. The way they made love. Sookie was uncomfortable with the lack of spine she had claimed for years held her morals. Too much of a coward to tell Eric the simple truth. They had grown from trusted acquaintances to two people who depended on each other, trusted each other and best of all Sookie felt. Deeply in love.

Truth be told, Sookie knew she had already trusted the beautiful Viking well before his run in with the witches. Eric was bold, witty, dependable, beyond devastatingly handsome. The looks of a runway model, with a wicked sense of humor and a savvy tactical mind rolled into one. She had always felt like Eric “got” her. And not even her beloved Gran “got” Sookie. That attribute alone made the Eric with his memories, priceless.

Sookie had no intention of hitching her wagon to anyone but her Eric. Sam never stood a chance.

“Why not?” Sam looked disappointed. Giving her head a quick shake out of her revelry, Sookie stated the fundamentals to Sam.

“I’m in love with someone else.”

“Eric.” Sam bristled. “He left you, cher. He left you high and dry after the damn witches were taken out. Not even a backwards glance in your direction. And here you are, pinning for him?” Sam was incredulous in his assumptions, crossing his arms over his chest in disbelief. His cruel behavior was doing nothing more than pissing Sookie off.

“He is off fucking fangbangers Sookie!” Sam exploded, his arms pitched out in the air to help prove his point. “Get those images through your head. He is off being Eric, not concerned in the slightest with you. Don’t waste your life over a vampire who will never love you.”

“What I do with my personal life is none of your concern, Sam Merlotte!” Sookie’s hands took permanent residence on her hips as she glares daggers in his direction. If flames could have burst through her irises, Sookie would have scorched Sam to a crisp. As it was she had no power of the fire starting variety.

Just the mind reading, thank you very much. Sookie thought.

Adding insult to injury Sam thought about what he thought Eric was up to. Scenes of multiple girls naked and jumping up and down on Eric’s lap. The scene straight from the Sunday school visuals of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sookie blinked, Sam then imagined girls covered in their own blood, dead. The light in their eyes gone as Eric walked callously over their bodies. The illusion was enough to make her stomach roll violently.

Through the onslaught Sookie kept a mask of anger on her face. She was not about to touch his comment about Eric and those sluts. It would give Sam a doorway to walk through and Sookie was not about to show that she was insanely jealous of who Eric was currently spending time with.

“You are my boss, Sam. Not to mention that I have always looked to you as I would an older brother.”

Sam winced at that comment, the pictures he was projecting ceasing in an instant. Sookie let out a breath slowly as her shields recovered from the barrage. She was twenty six and his ripe old age of 36 was not old, but there was a difference between them that could not be denied.

Sookie was not attracted to him. Period.

“I’m sorry Sam.” Sookie continued to speak her piece. “We’ve known each other for a lotta years now and you never once made a move on me. Not once, I would have remembered. Then Bill Compton walked into the bar and sat in my section.”

Sookie breathed in deep, pushing aside the many mistakes she had made with trusting Bill. She should have known better. Hell, had Bill been anything but a vampire it would have been easy to remember not to trust only his words. The Southern Civil War solider was still painful reminder that your trust can be misplaced. Especially when it came to something has breakable as your own heart. Downright irritating that his betrayal with his Maker made Sookie second guess her own judgment.

Sookie sighed, scrubbing her nose and forehead with the back of her hand. “You only wanted me when other Supes started to sniff around. That ain’t love, Sam. That makes you a game player.”

“Oh, and Eric doesn’t play games. Where is he tonight?” Sam deflected his lack of action.

“Eric has been honest with me since day one. You can’t say the same.” Sookie shook her head. All those years of Sam knowing about Sookie’s gift, he never once deemed her trustworthy enough to share his own otherness.

She huffed in annoyance at the thought but resolved herself to think about their inevitable reality in parting ways. “I guess we can’t go back to being friends, even though I’d like that. This may be too hard for you.” She pointed her hand back and forth between them. “Us working together.”

“What? You would quit the bar? Just like that? No Sookie, you always have a job at my place. Always.” Sam ran his hands through his red brownish hair and blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m sorry, okay. I guess I saw this playing out differently. Very differently.” He added quietly.

Sam kicked the dirt with the toe of his boot. The old brown leather had worn deep creases through the arch. His worn blue jeans hid the remaining structure as the dust settled around his feet.

“Look it’s late.” He massaged his own neck. The muscles and tendons were strained, and they seemed to be getting tighter now that their talk was nearing the end. Or at least Sookie hoped it was ending, she couldn’t shake the need to get out of that dark backwoods parking lot. It was dark enough to feel like someone was watching them. Waiting.

“Look, Cher. I am here for you. I always will be, even if it’s just as your friend.” Sam gave a heartfelt smile.

Sookie beamed back, she knew it hurt him to stay that. His thoughts all but confirmed that to her. But she couldn’t pretend to find and keep feelings that weren’t there. Sookie wanted real passion in her life, a connection. Not just the convenience of working at the same place and serving the same judgmental people day in and day out. It was tantamount to a dream crusher in her eyes.

After everything she had endured, her telepathy, loved ones dying, and her uncle. Even Bill and his whole mess of bullshit that came with him. Sookie figured true love in her life would be a welcome reward, if she could gather the courage to tell Mr. Eric Northman.

Looking back over her life. Sookie knew she wanted something different, something more. She was more now, she was different. “That’s real good Sam. I need reliable friends in my life, it would break my heart not to count you among them.”

A low whistle rang through the darkness, causing Sam to gasp in surprise. Sookie jerked her head around to where she thought the noise originated from. She was just as startled by the strange sound and for a moment Sookie thought she caught a snarly brain signature close by.

But in the darkened woods, she saw nothing.

“That was weird.” Sookie half laughed, turning back to Sam. She saw him convulse once, twice, and fall to the ground. Still as a stone, he landed on his back with a sharp crack. Then nothing.

No other movement.

Sam’s soft blue eyes wide open as they vacantly peered past her, the stare of death that she had seen so many times over the last few years etched deep in his dilated pupils. He was no longer breathing as he laid in the golden lamp light, the red and yellow autumn leaves surrounded him and just beyond the ominous black night. A dark red stain appeared over his heart, slowly spreading out and dampened his brown buttoned flannel shirt.

“Sam!” Sookie screamed.

“Sam!” She started to sob.

No, no, no.

Not her boss, her friend.

What could she do?

What can she do?

Sookie dropped to her knees, putting her hands against the bloody wound of his chest in an effort to stop the blood and will Sam back to life. That would work right? What she wouldn’t give to have healing powers instead of telepathy at that very moment.

“Somebody help! Help! Sa-Sam’s been shot!” She hollered into the night air.

Another low whistle blew through the darkened woods, grazing Sookie’s shoulder. She cried out as the bullet bit through her flesh. She sent out a wordless prayer that she wouldn’t die tonight. She had so much to live for.

Eric.

She needed to come clean, tell him that she loved him and let him react however he would. Even if it meant her life in servitude to him. Although, truth be told, she didn’t believe Eric operated like that, she had grown up since Bill’s unfaithfulness and schemes to see the truth about Eric.

If she were being honest with herself, Sookie knew she placed more faith in Eric than Bill. Eric seemed to be on a level that Bill never was. Look up a picture of a devious vampire in the dictionary and Bill’s picture was there, not Eric’s.

Although imaging his come hither fingers toward that white fur covered bed was a memory Sookie could die happy with. Amazing all the random thoughts that happen in a split second when you are facing your own mortality.

Sookie collapsed next to her now dead friend. Hoping she could use his body as a shield for any other attacks. She groaned when her uninjured hand grasped her shoulder wound.

Sookie could no longer feel Sam’s brain signature, his body was the only tangible piece of him that remained on Earth. That’s how she knew he was truly dead and gone.

Arlene came bursting out of Merlotte’s back door, annoyed as a mother hen to see her chicks misbehaving.

“Sookie, what in blazes is going on?” Arlene stopped dead in her black slip resistant shoes, taking notice of Sookie and Sam for the first time. “Oh my God, Sam?” Arlene whispered as her hands covered her mouth in shock.

“Is, is he-.”

“Run! There’s someone out here shooting at us. I don’t know where they are. Call the police!” Sookie had to get Arlene out of the line of fire, she wouldn’t have been able to stand another friend being killed by a stray bullet.

She readjusted herself deeper against Sam. A burning pain ripped up her shoulder across her collar bone. Blood was flowing down her arm and dripped off her elbow. Her sight went hazy, Sookie wasn’t sure if it was the blood loss or seeing Sam murdered before her eyes.

Trying to take her mind off the pain, she cast her mental net wide. Hoping to catch the killer. There was a blip, right on the furthest reaches of her mind.

Blackberry thicket was the only way Sookie could think of to describe the pattern. It was a Supe, although not a full shifter.

Something else.

“…get outta here…no good rotten twoey’s…shouldn’t have shot the girl…fear…vampire…coming…”

The person’s thoughts were projecting feelings of regret, anger and pain. Combined with the words that displayed like closed captioning on TV. How odd to have both. Most folks were one or the other, depending on their mood.

Sookie could no longer sense the murderer. After all, this person had meant to kill Sam. Kill him because of what he was. A shifter.

Sookie started to shutter, relieved that the killer didn’t know she was a telepath. Reassured that for the time being, they were leaving and not coming closer to where she lay and finish her off.

Her teeth began to chatter like a cold front had just rolled in Northern Louisiana. Why was she cold? It could be that she was lying on the cold ground. It was close to ten at night. She was shivering harder, uncontrollably so. She was having a hard time focusing on anything.

Maybe if I shut my eyes for a minute, I’ll be able to think clearly. By then maybe…

“Sookie!”

Eric’s worried face filled her blurred sight. His blond hair glinting gold from the ambient light of the bar and the moon. He was other worldly to her. His masculine features and chiseled lips. She blinked a few times and smiled up at him. Happiness filled her.

He was here.

Her Eric was here.

“Eric.” Sookie’s voice was hoarse from crying and screaming. “Sam, S-Sam’s dead. They killed him. They killed him for what, for what he was. Th-they probably want to kill me t-too.” She shook harder as more tears fell down her checks. The coppery smell of blood thick in the air made her nauseous.

Eric picked Sookie up bridal style and walked away from Sam’s body. Holding her close to his chest, he started humming a low soothing tune. She jerked in his hold, fear crawling up her spine in urgency.

“No, Eric! They’ll kill-kill you too. Get away from here, please! Can’t, c-can’t lose you. I can’t.” She was weeping into his neck while gripping his black muscle shirt fiercely with her uninjured hand.

“Lover, no. Shh. I will always be here with you. Nothing will happen to me.” Eric rocked her gently as another flood of molten tears flowed down the surface of her face. The wind chilling the wet streams dry in a look that Sookie thought was unbecoming of a Lady. But at that moment, she was more concerned with getting the man she loved out of danger.

Eric kissed her hair in the privacy of the tree line, allowing Sookie to relax against his lean sculpted body. This felt so right, minus the agony of her upper arm. Sookie felt that she was right where she needed to be. His embrace.

The shaking subsided as her breathing became more even. Being in Eric’s arms made her feel safe and cherished. She knew without a doubt, he would protect her. He could protect her, better than anyone before ever had. Sookie simply had to show her trust in Eric.

Sirens blared in the background breaking their comfortable cocoon.

The sounds kicked something inside of Sookie to remember what Eric had just said.

Lover? He called me, lover?

She pushed away to see Eric’s intent blue eyes on hers, “You called me lover? Why?” She heard the pleading but it could not be helped. She was fearful and hopeful of his answer.

“Because that is what you will be to me again. This time, however, I will remember every curve of your body.” Eric was dead serious even as his eyes flashed with lust. Blushing, Sookie felt a pang of disappointment.

For a second she hoped he had remembered their time together. His answer spoke volumes, of course she knew they would be two sides of the same coin in bed together but she really wished for their emotional connection to return. Sookie guessed that was something she would trust to come back with time.

Sookie winced adjusting to get comfortable in his arms. “First we must see to your wounds.” Eric bit into his wrist without hesitation and offered his ancient healing blood to Sookie.

She grabbed a hold of his arm without so much as a protest and looked deep in his eyes as she drank. Sookie was going to show her faith in Eric. She was going to trust herself to be honest and open. Allowing Eric to be the same with her, even if it took him longer to trust her.

That is what people in love do for each other, after all. Sookie was excited at the prospect of peeling back the layers that the real Eric Northman hid behind.

Eric groaned as she continued to lap at his offered blood. His teal blues eyes brightened and then the pupils dilated in pleasure as Sookie continued to drink. Her shoulder was mending itself back together at the time his wound was closing. Sookie released him. But not before leaving a kiss of thanks on his cooled skin.

“Thank you, Eric.” Sookie grinned up at him. Then licked her lips, savoring the blood that was left in the corner of her mouth. Cool and delicious, as if she had licked a melting ice cube.

“Allow me.” Eric leaned down and put his mouth her the side of hers, lightly licking the corner before fully kissing Sookie on the mouth. She moaned against his lips and Eric took the invitation to caress his tongue with hers.

After another few intense blissful moments, Eric pulled away with some reluctance. “I could feel your anger. I decided to come to you when I was struck with your fear and pain. It was…shocking. I flew to you as fast as I could.”

“I’m glad you did.” Sookie felt a few minds getting closer and she tensed up as she looked past Eric. His fangs were still out, only now Eric hissed loudly in the direction of the intruders. Sending a clear warning for all those to be of care in the presence of a predator.

“Sookie Stackhouse? Where in hell are ya? Sookie!” Andy Bellefleur’s voice rang through the thick trees and autumn leaves. Sookie breathed, knowing they had a long night ahead of them. At least she had Eric by her side.

Sobering to the fact of what was happening around them. Sookie reminded herself that her boss, her friend was dead. Sam lay motionless from the killer’s bullet when only a few minutes before he had tried to revive a romantic relationship with her. If given the chance would she have gone back and said yes to his advances?

No. They were not right for each other. Sookie was sure that given time, Sam would have found a true match for himself. Someone made for him, just like she had found with Eric.

Now, though, Sam deserved justice. They needed to find this killer and stop them from hurting anyone else. Sookie would defend Sam’s dignity. If their places had been reversed, her friend would do no less for her.

Squaring her now fully healed shoulders in determination, she spoke to Eric.

“Come on,” Sookie whispered bringing Eric’s darkening teal blue eyes back to her face. “I need to tell Andy what I saw. And then. I-.” She swallowed. “-I want to stay with you tonight. Is that okay?”

Why was this so difficult? Sookie wondered nervously. They had shared so much a week ago, had Eric retained those memories she had no doubt that she would have spent every night with Eric for the rest of her life. Now, she waited with an unease in her chest that Eric would deny her when she was feeling vulnerable.

“I would not have it any other way.” Eric smiled gently, then took her hand to place a kiss on the back of her palm. He kept a tight grip on her in his arms. Not yet wanting to be parted from her. “You need rest after everything that has happened this evening. Give your statement to the human Sheriff and then we will be on our way.”

To Be Continued….