When you came in the air went out

Game face

I enjoyed the shower; going through my normal routine was comforting. Standing underneath the warm water I could be anywhere; home in London, home at Eric's (hmm, maybe not), or at Sookie's. It was nice to think that I wasn't in a hotel room with Eric, who I had to keep working for and who would be acting all pompous and arrogant and possessive over me because I was pretending to be his. I found this thought made me scrub my head a bit too hard. 

Time to rinse.

I would do this and would work my notice and then be free of him. I frowned thinking of the young handsome man left in the hotel bed. I didn't think I would want to be rid of him, but that wasn't Eric. That was Eric minus the baggage and Eric had been alive so long he may as well be hauling a freight train behind him. I absently ran my fingers through my hair, getting the tangles out, wondering what exactly Eric would be like without the baggage, without a thousand years of experience. What would he be like if he was human?

That stopped me. I didn't think I had ever asked myself that question before. He didn't so much have a 'dark side', more wholly dark, but how much of that was from being a vampire? Was it over exposure to blood and gore from his eating habits that made him so blasé about incarceration, torture and murder? Or was everyone like that 1000 years ago? If he were human now, would he be like the other patrons of Fangtasia; leather clad vampire wannabes? I smiled at my shocking thought; would Eric be a fangbanger? He would certainly be coveted looking the way he does. But maybe he would be more like the clientele of Merlotte's with an honest job, drinking beer, going home to a wife and kids...

I honestly don't know how long I stood under the water thinking about every angle of that scenario but when I turned to rinse my hair again my fingers were well and truly pruned.

Still completely clueless of the time, whether I was late or early, I hurriedly dried my body and rubbed the drips out of my hair before opening the door to the bedroom.

I had to sigh in exasperation at the sight before me; the rumpled sheets and bed cover of a completely empty bed. Eric was gone.

I stood tensed in the doorway and looked around the room, even glancing upwards as I knew the big sneak could fly, but he was nowhere. Ugh I hated not knowing where he was – I would rather he be in full view and terrifying than out of sight and unknown. It gave him all the more chances of taking me by surprise.

I tightened the belt of the bath robe around me and resolved to getting ready regardless of the vampire's whereabouts.

I had just finished drying my hair when he breezed back into the bedroom as if it was nothing at all. I frowned as I realised I was relieved to see him. I hoped it was just because I could discount him scaring me to death. I narrowed my eyes when I saw him holding clothes as I remembered the last time he dressed me.

"For you, lover" he said as he laid out the dress with a flamboyant flip of the light weight material. It was nice enough, but not very me at all; a light blue summer dress with pearly buttons all the way down the front.

"I was going to wear a shift dress - the grey and black one" I said, letting my irritation colour my voice.

"This will serve us better." He rummaged in his pocket and produced a small lacy pair of knickers, also pale blue "and these" he said smiling as though he was very pleased with himself.

I looked from the knickers he was holding out to me back to the dress and back to him until it all clicked together and my mouth dropped open "I am not wearing Sookie's underwear!" I stood and stomped over to my suitcase. I will be wearing my own thank you very much Mr Northman...

"I presumed you'd say as much" I heard from behind me as I continued to rummage in search of my own underwear, which I was finding very hard to locate. Gritting my teeth I turned to him.