"Out!"
"That's not how it worksâ" He laughed coldly.
"I don't give a damn. I said GET OUT!"
With more strength than I would have thought I possessed, I shoved Eric, actually managing to throw him off balance enough that he no longer towered over me like a ... well a tower I guess.
His, or rather my, bathrobe was starting to come undone, but at that moment, I didn't care. Whatever was happening between us was overwhelming meâand seemed to displease him most of the time too. I couldn't predict how he would react to the next shift in mood. One way or another the air between us was charged to a degree that had us both on edge. I wanted him out of my apartment immediately, before the slightest spark, an unwise word, a wrong move, would set us aflame.
Frustrated, I pushed Eric quite unsuccessfully ahead of me. If I hadn't been so angry, confused, scared, and desperate, I probably would have laughed. Every time my hands touched his naked skin in an attempt to push him out of my apartment, he got a dreamy expression and almost stumbled willingly toward the door. When I let him go, he was back to being the cold, sarcastic Eric that everyone loved. Like someone switching between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Had he hit his head or something?
He stopped again in the middle of the living room. Confused, he shook his head, like a wet dog, which almost made me laugh. His mood swings were rubbing off on me. Great.
Eric swayed turned around and stared at me intently. I furrowed my brow. He seemed to be having trouble focusing on me. "Damn. I think I'm high!"
The statement surprised me for more than one reason, and I let go of him. First of all, Eric would never openly admit to being at fault. His ego was too big for that. And second...
"You're a vampire. You can't be high..."
He smiled belatedly, piercing his lower lip with his fangs. He furrowed his eyebrows before sucking on his lower lip like a toddler would a pacifier.
I resisted the urge to ask him if he was enjoying himself. "Or maybe you are?"
He really seemed drunk. He giggled.
He giggled!
Okay, vampires could get high.
"I'm a vampire! Grrrrr," he slurred, smiling at me before winking.
Now I chuckled, which Eric took as a compliment, proudly puffing out his chest in front of me.
No. Stop it, Ash. Don't encourage him, you want to get rid of him, forget about him?
I pulled myself together and tried to talk to him as seriously as possible.
"You wanted to go home!", I reminded him.
He looked at me with wide eyes. "Oh, yeah. Of course..."
Nothing happened. I tilted my head.
"Just one question... Where's that again?"
He fell strangely helpless onto my sofa, his face contorted.
Could this really be happening, or was he just messing with me? Could something like this happen? Spontaneous drunkness? Like spontaneous combustion? Then again, I didn't know where he had been at before. Maybe there was something like a vampire opium den nearby or something? He had said he'd had business to attend to near by...
Deep in thought, I went to the phone, feeling Eric's eyes rather innocently follow my moves with his eyes on my back. Then I stopped and stared at the phone. Who the hell should I call about something like this?
Sookie was probably already asleep. Or something.
I groaned in annoyance and leaned my head back. This must be a joke right? Chewing on my lower lip, I turned back to Eric, trying to gage his mood. He was now deeply engrossed in the structure of my sofa.
"Look, there's a spring sticking out. Sprung? No spring. Not the season but... " he wrinkled his forehead, clearly losing his track of thought.
"Spring. Yeah, that happened earlier..."
"I'll fix that!"
He began dismantling the insides of my sofa like a 2-year-old digging his hands into his birthday cake, occasionally looking up. In doing so, he smiled at me sincerely, albeit somewhat unclearly. Seeing him there, like an oversized half-naked baby in my lilac bathrobe who had, I suddenly couldn't be mad at the bastard anymore.
"Oooops, darn it."
"Darn it indeed my friend..."
He jumped up and stood swaying in front of me a short moment later.
"What are you?"
"The only sober one for one, lightweight!"
He looked down at himself, and I followed his gaze.
"I'm not a lightweight!" he concluded indignantly.
"Clearly not!" I muttered and then shook my head to dispel the hormonal haze that seemed to keep enveloping me. A broad grin spread across his cheeks. He was about to open his mouth and, most likely, say something stupid or suggestive when I interrupted him.
"Just don't say it."
He closed his mouth again and then unexpectedly rushed forward, Â brushing a strand of hair from my face.
"You're so beautiful!"
Or maybe he just wanted to say something nice.
"And you're so incredibly high!" I tried to defuse the weight of his compliment. Neither of us was helped if I took him too seriously.
He shrugged. "I'm still the most dangerous and strongest vampire for hundreds of miles around."
And therein lay the problem. His statement sobered me up, and I became aware of all the problems again. He had by now unwound his fingers from my hair and placed his hand on my cheek, looking enraptured again.
You'll never get a better chance than now. You have a wooden stake under the sink. 10 steps, a solid thrust, and no one would ever know...
A sharp pain shot through me at the thought, and when the meaning behind it reached my brain, my eyes widened. Pure adrenaline rushed through my veins.
"Hmmm, you smell like honey..." Eric sighed across from me, leaning in closer.
I stiffened and extricated myself from whatever we were doing here in the living room. As soon as I stood far enough away from him for him to release me, he sobered up again. Sort of. Like magnetically drawn, he took a step toward me again, his fingers reaching out to me.
I backed away.
"Okaaaay, junkie." In a defensive gesture, I gestured for him to stay. Although he looked extremely confused, he surprisingly adhered to the restrictions I imposed on him.
He took a few deep breaths, and with each exhale, I could see that his gaze cleared a little.
I didn't interrupt him. I wouldn't have known what to say anyway. A good minute later, he looked at me again with a piercing gaze."Ash."
"Eric?"He looked around the living room. His gaze fell on my sofa."Your home is a mess."
Yay, he was back andâwait? Hadn't he just scattered the inside of my sofa all over a few square meters of my abode? Did that mean he couldn't remember that? Did that mean he hadn't even noticed that something was definitely wrong with me...?
"Then you should probably go back to yours real quick!"
He nodded seriously.
"I'll be out of town for the next few days..." He frowned, albeit only minimally. "As soon as I get back, please come to Fangtasia!"
His demanding gaze pierced me.
Even though he said please, it was clearly an order and not an invitation. He probably didn't even consider the idea that I might resist. I didn't have the energy for an argument anymore and suddenly felt very tired. All I wanted was my bed.
I walked past him and opened the door, yawning loudly.
"Okay, Eric."
"I'll make my way back to my home!" Eric repeated my words and walked straight past me.
Well. That was easy. Just as he was about to leave, he turned around once more. His forehead was wrinkled in confusion. Then he disappeared with a "See you soon, my Ash!" and rose into the air, while I stared after him with my mouth open.
I didn't know what surprised me more.
That he called me "My Ash"?
That he could fly?
Or that he, apparently without even noticing it, was currently flying half-naked in my lilac women's bathrobe over the roofs of Bon Temps?