So I Got Mixed Up With Vampires - Eric Northman Story (EDITING)

4) A Very Intrusive Viking

I could barely bring myself to invite him in. Eric sat on my mini sofa crammed into the living room/kitchen of my tiny apartment. Seeing him make himself comfortable on my couch annoyed me. “Why do you live here?” Eric asked gulping down his O positive.

“Because I do.”

“But you had a house.”

“Is that a question?” Because it definitely sounded like a fact from my life he already knew.

“Yes.” He answered immediately. “You knew what I meant.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “Well other than being poor, you know my boss doesn’t pay too much.” He snorted.

“I bet he pays enough. Better than a lot of other dancing gigs around Shreveport.”

“Well,” I continued. “I got thrown out of my old house. This is my ex boyfriend’s house. He gave me a place to stay and then left it to me. I could’ve used a heads up that he was going to leave me and with a whole bunch of crap to pay but shit happens I guess. At least I have a place to stay.” I reached for a glass in the cabinet, I could really use a drink.

“The house was taken from you?”

“Well yeah. I couldn’t afford it. A house for an eighteen year old kid. I had no idea how or what to do with it. I got a job, I was barely getting by. Then I got fired. I was scared, you know, I had no living family to help me.”

“What happened to your family? Your mom?” He asked anxiously. “Or your father?” He added quickly. He seemed genuinely interested about what happened to my family, but my parents especially. Maybe he could relate or something. Maybe his parents left him, too.

Usually I wouldn’t talk about my family business with people, especially not with strangers. And I certainly didn’t want to be giving Eric Northman my life’s details. Yet, I couldn’t fight this compulsion to tell him. Suddenly I wished I could tell him everything that happened but I couldn’t. I didn’t even know myself. I was a baby when they disappeared. They were never found not even traces of them. No signs of abduction or abandonment. It was like they vanished instantly. That’s how I was always told the story.

How was I supposed to tell Eric that? I didn’t want him to know about my family. He would know I was the outsider of my town. Everyone avoided me like the plague. I would forever be known as ‘the girl with the creepy cold case parents’. I didn’t want him to see me like that, I couldn’t take any pity. I wanted him to treat me like he always did, even if it was mean or annoying. I furrowed my eyebrows. There was no way I actually cared about what Eric thought about me or my family… was there?

“They’re all dead,” I confessed quickly. I would never care what he thought. “My parents too.” I was finding Eric harder to resist. Every time he was around I felt myself giving into him. Whether it was letting him annoy me or telling him anything he wanted to know.

“Do you know anything about them?” His questions were getting harder to bear. What was with the obsession with my family? And he seemed so desperate to know everything I knew about them. Parent stalker much?

“Well no not really. I have a couple pictures of them from the house but that’s it.” I sighed longingly. I wish I could remember them.

 “How could your mother just leave you a house and nothing to help you maintain it? That’s pointless and stupid.” I looked at him appalled.

“Hey!” I argued defensively. “You must have mommy problems or something. Leave her alone you don’t even know her. It wasn’t only her fault, it was my dad’s fault too, if we’re pointing fingers here. At least they left me a house. How were they supposed to know they were going to die?”

He looked at me accusingly, like they had to have known they were going to leave me.

“Listen, you can judge me all you want but not my family. My imaginations all I got and I’m not gonna believe they were bad people.”

He nodded. “Do you want to know about your family?” He asked guiltily. He probably felt guilty knowing his family and then hearing me rant about not knowing mine. I didn’t want him to feel like it was his fault. He had no connection to my family, we weren’t his problem. I shrugged not wanting to talk about them anymore.

He was staring at me, waiting for me to say something. So I changed the topic quickly. He had his turn, now it was time to satisfy my own curiosity.

“Can I ask you something, Eric?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

“Why are you here?”

“You know why,” he said nonchalantly.

“You’d do this for all your employees?”

“Do what?”

“You’re the most difficult vampire ever,” I rolled my eyes. “I know I’m not safe or whatever but would you take all your employees home? And stay with them?” I don’t know what answer I wanted from him, but I did want one.

“No only the special ones.”

“What does that mean?” I struggled to level my voice. Eric thinks I’m special? What does that mean? Am I actually starting to care what Eric thinks about me?

“Well okay, I’d do it for all the hot ones.” Hmmm, that’s a little less sentimental, but still flattering.

“I’ll see you soon.” He stood and went for the door.

“Where are you going? I thought you were staying over.” No that was not eagerness in my voice. It was just curiosity. I jumped up to follow him. He watched me and smirked. I could feel heat rising in my cheeks. Eric did not just make me blush.

“Aww that was cute.” He grinned.

“I just thought I was going to have some protection,” I snapped defensively.

He looked at me and stepped closer. He put his hand on my cheek, gently stroking my face. I gulped. He chuckled softly.

“I have to go I’ll send someone to stay with you when the sun comes up.” He dropped his hand, was out the door, and off the street in a second. “Well goodbye then,” I muttered. I hopped into bed and pulled the covers over my head tossing and turning. Closing my eyes was not an option right now, not when all I was going to see was Eric. I let my eyelids fall and there he was, inches away. I could feel his hand resting on my cheek again. I shivered. I didn’t ever think I could forget about Charles but it was happening. Eric Northman was pushing his way into my mind and all my thoughts. I sure do know how to pick them.