Chapter 9 : Shreveport

She cleared her throat. "I have a month to move out. Eric, I'm leaving Bon Temps and all of the bad things with it."

She was leaving me. With coldness dripping from my voice, I asked her, "Are you saying that you're leaving me?"

She started laughing. She placed both hands on my face and she kissed the tip of my nose. "My silly, old vampire, that's not at all what I'm saying. I'm saying that I love you. I love you Eric Northman. I love you and I want to be with you."

My voice went deeper than normal. My accent was much more pronounced. "I love you." I looked at her intently. Before I knew it, my mouth had captured hers. She had wrapped her small arms around me and pressed her body to mine.

As I kissed my way down her neck, she ran her fingers through my hair. "Let's go home."

I looked at her and said, "Okay."

I walked over to my desk to get my keys. I needed to get enough clothes for the next few days. I decided that once we'd gotten to Bon Temps, we would discuss where she would be moving.

Since she won't live with me, she may have already decided to move closer to me. There are a couple of houses for sale in my neighborhood that she may like. I would love to buy her a home close to mine.

"What are you doing?"

"You said that you wanted to go home," I said as I grabbed things from the closet. "I feel honored that you want to spend your last nights in your home with me."

"No, Eric. You don't understand. My home is with you. I want to go home with you."

Everything that I was holding fell to the floor. I turned slowly to look at her. My face was blank. I didn't know what to say or what to feel. After all of this time, she had finally decided to live with me. We are going to live as husband and wife.

My expression must have meant something different to her because she looked away from me.

She looked down at the floor. "I can understand if you have changed your mind after all that has happened. I waited too late. I've lost you. It's my fault. I shouldn't ..." Tears streaked her face.

I kneeled in front of her before she could say anything else. "Look at me Sookie." When she did, I licked the tears away. "You've made me happier than I've ever been. I have not changed my mind. I want you. I've always wanted you. I will always want you."

She kissed me as she had never kissed me before. "Let's go home. We need to reform our bond."

At vampire speed, I had my wife in my arms. The other vampires only saw a blur when Sookie and I left for the night. While we were standing in the parking lot of Fangtasia, I felt peace for the first time in a long time.

Sookie had her arms wrapped around my neck and she was happy. That was all that I'd ever wanted. One last kiss from my beloved and I was flying us to our home in Shreveport.

I sent my vampires back to their respective posts so that I could think. Once, I was seated, I began to think of how I was going to approach her. I didn't want to be aggressive.

She doesn't like that. I don't want to be presumptuous and force my company upon her. Many thought ran through my mind. Maybe I should wait for her to come to me.

No … that won't work. Sookie would never approach me unprovoked. I've always had to make the first move. What if I wait and she just leaves without a trace?

It is my only chance and I am not going to pass it up. If I had made her mine before Bill had, maybe things would be different. Then it dawned on me.

The most obvious tactic was right before me. I had to use my past mistakes to my advantage. I have to go to her first. I have to use my most admirable qualities.

I knew what she wanted in her vampire; honesty, kindness, and compassionate. I never lied to her. I always had her best interests at heart.

I would and I will always put her happiness before my own. My most important quality is that I love her. I had other attributes that worked in my favor.

I am an excellent vampire. I am extremely handsome. I am powerful. I am wealthy. I am exceptionally intelligent. I have a powerful position in the vampire community.

A woman such as Sookie deserves a vampire with my qualities and modesty. What more could she possibly need?

The next things that I have to consider are my faults but I could come up with nothing. No matter how I wracked my brain, nothing came to mind. There is but one conclusion.

I haven't any.

My positives definitely outweigh my negatives. My best qualities are going to be what helps me to get my wife back. But first, I have to remain calm.

I can't approach her as if I am unsure of myself. I can't let her see me as a nervous wreck. A vampire of my importance cannot behave in such a manner.

What if other vampires saw me in such a state? What if she saw me in such a state? I can't let her see me like that. What would she think? I motioned for Indira to bring me a blood.

When she put it down in front of me, she said, "If I am not being too forward, I'd like to say that everything will be fine. She loved you before. She will love you again."

I only nodded. "Thank you for your words of support but I am not nervous."

Indira did her best not laugh. She bowed to me and quickly walked away. She'd been around Pam too long.