Why on earth couldn't I just look somewhere else?

This man was scary as hell and (as I had to admit unwillingly) kind of hypnotising and pleasing to look at.

I didn't seem to be the only one feeling that way. All women in this room and maybe even some man watched Eric with a mixture of respect and interest.

Erics babyblue eyes where still intertwined with mine, when Bills stepping out of Sams office broke the connection. An asian looking man was right on his heels.

I trusted vampires as far as I could throw them (which was actually further than I had imagined. Somehow just a little bit of training had gone a long way), but I at least had gotten kind of used to having Bill around. Meaning enough, that I would jump each time he entered the room. 

Sookie liked him (which in my book was naive and short sighted, but in the end that was non of my business). I had my own, bigger porblems. One of them was now standing about 3 feet away from me, at least 6,5ft. tall and scanned every last inch of me, a smirk that did weird things to my intestines, on his face.

"Don't play with your dinner!", the blonde by his side growled in his hear. "Eat her, fuck her, whatever, but hurry up. We don't have all night!"

There was a shimmer in his eyes, a flicker that caused the hairs in the back of my neck to stand.

Bill decided to use this exact moment to reappear and the hungry look on Erics face was gone. Instead his shoulders grew tense and he turned his head ever so slightly.

"Let's go.

"I came to talk to Sookie!", Bill hissed while he practically stormed passed Eric, leaving the Merlottes. Sookie followed him after a quick look towards Eric.

"Three Minutes!", Eric exclaimed while slithering towards the door himself. His steps where calm and anticipated. At the door, he turned around once more, blocking the exit.

"Oh, and one word of advice..."

His voice was cold. Every once of charm and emotion had left him.

This was the moment, I understood how he had managed to become one of the truely "old onces". A vampire of a 1000 years was old, even to vampire standards. I understoof how I had taken me month to find someone who was willing to sell out this frightening creature standing right in front of me.

He was way more dangerous than I had anticipated.

"We vampires know, when a human has harmed one of our own."

His gaze scanned the crowd and rested on individuales ever so slightly. He marked them. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he was reading their mind. Their sins and desires.

My heart started raising again and the palms of my hand got all sweaty and cold. I had killed alight. Vampires to be percice. More than once. 

His gaze fixated on me and in his eyes grew that spark again

"We can smell it."

Alright, that's it. I was toast. Weirdly, that moment my testament crossed my mind. Well, actually my lack of an actual testament. I had non. Than again, I didn't really had people in my life, I wanted to give my belongings to in the first place, nor did I really have any belongings. Sure, I had my crappy old red Toyota and a few thousand bucks from heist in New York, but that money could never legally the light of day and my car would probably not pass the next inspection.

I tried to hold myself against Erics gaze but I had to swallow hard and my breath  went shallow. Against all humanly possible reasons I had to register that I was more than just a little drawn to the man standing right in front of me, being scared for my life and in imminent danger I was still more than a little attracted to him. That had to be some cruel joke.

There I was, standing in front of him, being scared for my life and my traitorous body wanted nothing more than being pressed against that tall, intimidating viking.

My mouth went dry.

When his gaze went on further, scanning the rest of the crowd, I didn't know if I was feeling reliefed or disappointed. With an intensity definitly more beastly than human, his gaze finally fixed on the group of red-necks. One of them ducked away, while his friend raised his chin like a stubborn little child.

It was almost embarrisingly obvious, that Eric had control over the whole situation

Within a blink of his eyes, he would have been able to tear apart that whole table while making himself a fashionable neckless out of their bones. But his interest in the group had already been deminished.

One table further, two women sitting in my area giggled flirtatious while one of those barely dressed ladies curled her hair around her finger and raised her clevage.

I snorted and rolled my eyes, which got the woman he had called Pam to raise her eyebrow.

The way she looked at me basically screamed: "Why the fuck do you care?"

Valid question!

Get your god damn life under control!, I shunned myself. When this whole sharade would be over (-and I would survive this madness) I'd go look for a shrink. And a good one at that!

Eric who apparently had noticed the short and silent communication between me and Pam, kind of vampire-beamed himself right in front of me and basically took my breath away.

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!

Like a brick wall, he overshadowed me. Hard and steady. His face was turned towards me when he lowered himself to place his face right infront of mine. He smelled like expansive aftershave, the cold air in the woods and something I could quite put into words.

Put shortly: He smelled delicious.

Something (god knows what) must have given me away because Eric started grinning knowingly.

"Your allowed to touch, you know?"

Eric stepped towards me even further and my heart start playing Dubstep. Because I was afraid? Turned on? Because I had developed a heart disease that I had not yet discovered? Who knows?I knew I couldn't explain it. All I could do was swallow dryly.

"Since I'd stepped foot inside this", his eyes scanned the surroundings judgingly "bar, your heartbeat has been by far the fastest and loudest of them all!", he wispered with his voice deep and slick for everyone in Merlottes to hear, while his long silky hair brushed against my cheek.

"Do you want to make yourself especially tasteful for me?"

Help!

A deep, throaty, almost animal like growl escaped his chest.

"Och du luktar gott!"

I did not speak swedish, nor did I understand a word he just uttered but then again there was no need to. According to the way his eyes settled on me, I would end up being his snack. Time to get myself scare. But then again: How does one walk? Or breathe? In order to not get completly lost in his gaze I lowered my eyes... just enough to land on his lips.

Big mistake!

He was showing full fang which meant he either felt like killing...or fucking. Either way, I was screwed.

I did the only thing I could think of in this situation and reacted instinctivly. I had to distract him, had to influence his decision in a (for me) less dangerous direction. Well or at least in a direction that wouldn't end with me being dead (thank you very much). So somehow, surprising for everyone around, including myself, I leaned in close, just like I had before in my head, and pressed myself against him.

I placed my right hand right on his biceps on top of his black shirt before I stretched myself in my tiptoes, ran my fingers through his hair and tugged it behind his ear whispering ever so slightly.

"What if that's the case?"

I smiled at him my most flirtatious smile (or at least I hoped that's what it looked like) and prayed silently for a miracle. It was a cheap, desperate move. I didn't believe for a second I could fool my opponent. He raised his eyebrow and gave me an unimpressed look.

From everybody elses point of view it must have looked like a turn down. It even convinced me.  Or at least it would have if I would have felt him move against me around his waist.

Holy crap!

I froze in place. What the hell did I just start here? Even through all those layers of clothing that still separated us I could tell, I wasn't fit for that situation. His situation. Mentally, emotionally and most likely physically given the impression of him and its dimensions pressing against my lower belly.

Yet, against all logic, I felt tempted...

The man across from me never took his lingering eyes of me, studying my every move and reaction. I swallowed hard. I thanked the gods when the door flew open with a loud thud, revealing a annoyed Pam.

"Eric. Trail? Magister? Chop Chop!"

Eric stepped back and raised one of my hands to his lips, brushing his cold lips against my soft skin ever so slightly.

"Till next time Ms. Simmons!" he hummed, smirked at my reaction and turned around within the blink of an eye to leave Merlottes, leaving me standing on my shaky legs.

It took me about ten minutes of working my routine again delivering onionrings and cheeseburgers to apparently starving customers to realise, that I had never told him my name.