Chapter 23

Disclaimer – I don’t own them and nobody’s paying me. I simply cannot stop myself from playing with the Viking!

Chapter 23

That moment, when I saw and felt him letting go, was amazing. Then I just held him. He was allowing me to give him comfort. That was what he needed from me and what I wanted to give. It was perfect. I heard his fangs retract with barely a sound.

I couldn’t remember the last time I was held that way. Honestly, I don’t know if I ever was. Even when he held me in my dreams, it wasn’t like this. His arms completely wrapped around me, and one hand was softly stroking up and down my back while he played with my hair. I sighed contently. I felt safe. It was a funny thing to think while sitting in the arms of a vampire.

A real-live fucking vampire! This vampire!!

Crazy didn’t even begin to cover it!

He couldn’t see the smile that overtook my face at that thought, but he probably felt it when I silently laughed. He was rubbing the side of his face into my shoulder and neck, like a cat marking me with his scent, making soft contented noises.

“Why are you laughing?” he asked quietly.

“I’m not really. I’m just…” I was at a loss for words.

“Overwhelmed?”

“No. It’s the opposite, actually. This feels too easy.”

“You think I am easy?” He pulled back and looked at me, pretending to be insulted while raising both his eyebrows.

I laughed at his expression and pushed on his chest before lacing my fingers behind his neck. He smiled at me, and leaned in to begin placing small kisses on my forehead, down the side of my face to my neck. I was able to wrap my arms further around his neck when he came closer. I giggled at the ticklish touches of his lips.

“No, you goof. I feel too comfortable with you. Despite the roller coaster of emotions I’ve been on lately, whenever I’m alone with you, it’s just…too simple.”

He stopped his playing then and straightened up to look at me seriously.

“I do not think that any of this is simple,” I could tell there was more he wanted to say.

“But?”

“I agree. It should not feel so uncomplicated to be here with you.”

“Oh, I didn’t say it was uncomplicated,” I laughed out.

“True. You know for certain now,” he said in a low gravelly voice while he leaned back in and continued his earlier task of kissing my neck.

My fingers began rubbing down his back feeling the taut muscles there as he moved. He seemed to relax more into my touch. A low, moaning, sound escaped him as he placed one hand on the back of my neck and began to pet me down my hair to the middle of my back.

“And here you thought you were so sneaky. I already had it figured out.”

“Oh really,” he said in a hushed voice near my ear.

My breath hitched when I felt him nip at my earlobe with his blunt teeth.

“Mmhmm. Sadly for you, it seems apparent you can’t make me forget either,” I said while my eyelids fluttered and my head tilted back at the feel of his lips moving down my neck to the space above my collarbone.

He used his hand to pull my hair to one side as he began to lick and kiss the sensitive skin there.

“I can make you forget,” he whispered in between soft kisses.

“Nuh uh,” I moaned out inelegantly.

He pulled back to look in my eyes. I sobered at the look on his face.

“I can make you forget your own name,” he said as a challenge.

In one quick movement, his hands dropped down to grab my ass as he slid me swiftly to the edge of the counter, moving closer to me so I could feel the hardness of the Viking sword he was packing! Immediately all the blood in my body felt like it traveled lightning fast straight to my vagina that began pulsing with my heartbeat.

I gasped at the sensation of his hard shaft pressed against me.

“Oh God, Eric!”

“No. That is my name. You see, I told you. You have already forgotten,” he winked.

I gripped the back of his head and pulled him to me.

“Shut up. Shut up. Shut up,” I mumbled breathlessly as I began kissing his lips.

His fingers slid under my cheeks, and I felt them as they pressed into my flesh where he gripped them. I moaned at the feel of his strong hands pulling me closer still. I captured his lower lip between my teeth opening his mouth. I greedily pushed my tongue inside and was again assaulted by the sweet taste of his mouth. I inhaled deeply relishing in his scent. Our faces moved in sync as we explored each other’s mouths and lips, biting, licking, and sucking on each other.

My hand gripped his hair as the other fisted the back of his shirt pulling him flush to my chest. He pushed against me, and I felt my lower lips throbbing and molding to the shape of his erection. My hips bucked involuntarily and my pelvis ground into his as we both groaned with desire.

I ran my fingernails across his scalp and through his hair before I gripped it tighter and roughly pulled his head back. His eyes were hungry, electrified while he looked down at me with his mouth still open. My lips were swollen from his skillful kisses.

“I want to see them!” I demanded.

His smile grew and he let out a loud throaty laugh as his fangs snapped down. His eyebrows waggled and his eyes widened quickly in excitement. I felt another tremor run through my body, and I wrapped my legs around him forcing the length of his cock against me as I dug my heels into his ass.

I placed a hand on each side of his face, and drew him closer to me where I could run my tongue along one of them. I kept my eyes locked on his as I did and he had to force himself not to close them. He made the most delicious sound and I could tell he was making an effort to remain still as I repeated my actions on the other one. Excruciatingly slowly, I circled my tongue into his mouth slowly drawing it out, dancing between and around his fangs making sure I touched each part of them both.

I felt his hands sneak up my back slowly and grip on the top of my dress.

“No!” I said, quickly stopping his movements.

“There is a zipper. Please use it,” I said quietly as to not break the moment with nonsense.

Truthfully, I was surprised it wasn’t already gone. I didn’t feel or hear the zipper move, but in a flash my dress was down below my shoulders exposing my bra. He looked down at my breasts and back to my eyes. I gave him a brief nod.

“That you can destroy,” I said with a wink.

He slowly moved my dress further down allowing me to slide my arms out. In a blur, my bra was gone after he bit the front in two, and it fell from my shoulders. I slid my arms out of the loops that were around my wrists, and he pushed it off the counter onto the floor. He gently ran his hands down my shoulders, pushing my hair from my chest to fall down my back.

He glided both hands down to cup my breasts, taking in the weight and the way they fit into his palms. He ran his thumbs across my hard nipples softly playing with them. I held my breath as he bent over, presumably to take one in his mouth before he suddenly stopped!

He stood upright and stepped back; releasing the hold I had on him with my legs.

“Eric?”

~~~

He didn’t say anything, but the look on his face was definitely not the one of desire it held before. His brow furrowed in what looked like disappointment as his eyes roamed over me. Immediately I became self-conscious, and covered myself by crossing my arms over my chest. He started looking around the room.

“What…what’s wrong? What are you doing?” I couldn’t keep the hurt from my voice.

What just happened? Was my naked body that repulsive to him?

“Where is the light switch?” he said quickly.

JP and I had left the lights on in the hall and the open living room knowing it would be late when we got home. We had not left one on in the kitchen. There had been plenty of light for Eric and me in the room before he removed most my clothing.

I knew perfectly well he could see in the dim light. So could I, though certainly not as well. Was he now just trying to embarrass me further?

I could feel my eyes filling with tears. I slid off of the counter, and started pushing my arms back through my sleeves.

“No! Don’t!” he commanded still searching the room, “Where is the fucking light!?”

I knew I couldn’t speak without breaking down, so I simply nodded toward the fridge. There was a switch on the wall at the corner behind it. I continued to try and get my dress pulled back up.

“Chelsea, stop!” he shouted.

His harsh voice startled me. I pulled the front of my dress up, but I didn’t put my arms through the sleeves. I was so uncomfortable and humiliated; I wanted to run to my room and hide.

Maybe I should just kick him out again so he won’t have to look at me!

When he turned the light on, I felt ten times worse. He gasped with a breath I knew he didn’t need.

The way he looked at me made me feel hideous, and I couldn’t stop the tears from starting to trickle from my eyes when I blinked.

I knew I wasn’t the caliber of woman with whom he was probably accustomed to making love or fucking, whatever we were going to call this. He could have anyone he wanted. Still, seriously, to react so callously? This was just mean! I tried to turn away from him before he was next to me again.

“Gods! Look at you!” he exclaimed as his eyes continued staring at my body.

The look on his face was horrified.

“Fuck you, Eric!” I shouted and tried to step around him.

Of course, he stepped in my way and wouldn’t let me pass. I was crying in earnest now.

“No one asked you to take my top off! No one made you touch me! You didn’t have to come in here and…and…”

He just stood there and continued to stare at the spectacle that I was making of myself.

“Stop fucking looking at me if I’m so disgusting to you!”

“No, I need to look at you. I want to see all of you,” he said, taking a small step toward me.

“Please, Eric! Please stop. I get it, OK?”

“Come here,” he said softly. He stepped forward and put his arms gently around me.

“Let go of me!” I cried pitifully.

I tried to pull away from him as I weakly beat on his chest with one fist, keeping the dress covering me with the other.

“I did not mean to yell at you. Please stop pushing me away,” he said pulling me closer.

“No,” I mumbled into his chest.

I was a mess. It wasn’t enough that he could already barely stand to look at me, but now I was blubbering all over him. I was starting to calm down from his soothing touch and the renewed gentleness of his words.

“Please stop crying. I do not like to see you cry.”

“Fuck you,” I whimpered through my shuddering breaths

“Why did you not tell me about your body?” he asked.

I turned my disgusting face up to look at him. He still had the disappointed and disapproving look.

Then I got mad.

Really mad.

I shoved away from him hard. I know I couldn’t have budged him if he didn’t let me. He did.

“What!? What the fuck did you expect me to say? Hey, it’s fun kissing and all, but don’t get too close because I’m grotesque! What’s wrong with you? Is this what you’re really like?”

I was so upset I started shaking and the tears returned in full force, but they had turned to tears of anger.

He took a step toward me again and I backed up against the counter. It was not so much fun this time.

“What are you talking about?” he asked truly confused.

Was he mental?

“Obviously you find me repulsive, so I don’t know why you fucking bothered. Did you just want to play with me until you found out I wasn’t worth the great effort it must be costing you?” I ground out.

His face changed instantly. It was as if he finally realized what a jackass he was being. A light bulb turned on somewhere in his head. He looked guilty and ashamed.

Good!

“No! You misunderstand me,” he said.

Was that his fucking apology?

Well, he could shove that right up his perfect ass!

I turned around and pulled a paper towel from the holder. I wiped my face and nose, and took a deep breath. When I was relatively in control, I turned and looked him in the eye.

“You’re right! I thought we were finally starting to be on the same page with each other. Clearly, I was mistaken,” I said icily.

“Chelsea, look at you,” he said gently.

He took my hand raising my arm, and traced the marks and bruises there that had been hidden by my sleeves. I was covered in them, but we hadn’t bothered with makeup anywhere that didn’t show.

That’s when my own light bulb clicked on.

“Oh,” I whispered.

His hand continued up my arm and brushed across my chest tracing the bruises there. I pulled out the top of my dress and looked down. I was bruised all over, my breasts, my stomach. Most of them weren’t big, but there were many. I had small abrasions and was bruised practically everywhere I could see. I knew my back and legs were the same. I hadn’t paid attention when we were getting all hot and bothered. Being near him really did make me feel better, well, not in the last fifteen minutes or so, but quite frankly I had forgotten about them in the time we were spending together.

“Are they everywhere?” he asked so quietly it made my heart break.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

He pulled me into his arms again and this time I didn’t resist. He was right. I had misunderstood royally. He kissed the top of my head and rested his cheek there.

“Why is there nothing on your face? I thought perhaps you had healed; that I had given you too much.”

“Well, actually, you did. The bruises that Pam left are gone and they were only a day or so older than the others.”

He pulled back and looked at my unblemished arm.

“That is something at least.”

I scoffed at him.

“The rest is makeup,” I said.

“I am so very sorry that I hurt you with my words. I did not think of how my careless actions would affect you.”

I shrugged, but didn’t say anything. I wanted to say it was OK, but it wasn’t. He could have just said something. Instead he had made me feel like a freak and unworthy of his attentions.

“Do you have a bathtub?”

OK, that was random.

“Um, yes. Why?”

“Let me take care of you.”

“No, I’m fine. I’m sorry I yelled, too. You’re right. I didn’t understand, but I do now. Besides, if this bothered you, you definitely don’t want to see the rest of me.”

“Please?”

“Eric, you are always taking care of me. Really, I’m fine.”

“I would very much like to do this. I have hurt you so many times this evening, Chelsea. I want to make you feel better. I want you to feel simple with me again,” he gave me the saddest eyes I think I had ever seen.

I chuckled at his choice of words and rolled my eyes at the puppy dog look on his face. I sighed in defeat and I gave in.

“OK, fine. Come on,” I said, taking his hand and leading him upstairs to my cast iron tub.

~~~

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, he swept me up into his arms and carried me the rest of the way. It was silly, but I loved it. I directed him to the bathroom and when he set me down, I stepped into my closet while he ran the water. I chose a comfortable nightshirt and grabbed two large, fluffy, towels from the linen shelf. When I returned, I saw that he discovered my bath salts and some rain scented bubble bath. The light was off and he had lit the tea lights that hung in a decorative holder above the tub.

He looked relaxed sitting on the side of the built in bathtub, swirling his hand in the water increasing the amount of bubbles and dissolving the salts. He turned when I entered the room.

I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew he wouldn’t want to look at the rest of me when the marks he had seen so clearly upset him. I was glad he had filled the tub with lots of bubbles.

He stood, walked over to me, and then knelt down. I was confused for a moment before he gingerly lifted one foot at a time removing my shoes. He continued his movements by gliding his hands up my legs and under the skirt of my dress. I took in a deep breath and held it as I felt his fingers exploring the outside of my hips before he grasped my tights and slowly pulled them down. We repeated the process of lifting my feet one at a time to remove the tights. He took his time examining my legs and leaned in to kiss each bruise.

I was awed by his movements and care. My senses were heightened to his soft touches, and each tender kiss somehow reached inside me, endearing him more to me.

Yeah, he had broken through my wall for sure!

Again, he gently ran his hands up my thighs caressing them as he did so until he reached my panties. When he pulled them down to my ankles, goosebumps broke out all over my skin and I stepped out of them, kicking them to the side.

His fingertips lightly ran up the length of my legs and over the outside of my dress as he stood. When he reached the top of the sides where I was holding it up, I stiffened.

“Please,” he said quietly.

“Um, would you turn around or maybe close your eyes?” I asked.

It was a ridiculous question given that I was about to step naked into a bathtub in front of him, but the room was so quiet that it was making me feel very nervous to be so exposed in his presence.

Looking down at me with soft eyes, he gave me a small smile and nodded. He stepped back from me and closed his eyes while I slid the dress the rest of the way off.

“You’re peeking!”

His response was a light chuckle as he reached his hand out to me and guided me to the tub while keeping his eyes closed, mostly.

I stepped over the high side of the tub and into the water. The fragrance soothed me. The water was very hot, exactly how I liked it. I sat down slowly, carefully pulling the bubbles to me to cover as much as I could.

“OK. You can open your eyes…the rest of the way,” I giggled.

He did and when he saw I was settled, he stood tall and removed his shirt with one swift movement.

“What are you doing?!” I asked with a little panic.

“I am getting in with you, of course.”

Of course? Oh My God! I don’t know what I had expected, but it was definitely not him taking my bath with me.

I watched with rapt eyes as he undressed the rest of the way. I should have looked away when he unsheathed his penis pulling down his boxer briefs and springing his, once again, erect manhood, free, but I was frozen, and I think I may have salivated a bit.

God Damn! I mean, holy moley, Batman! Look at that thing! I most assuredly was.

He let out a laugh.

“Perhaps it is I who should have asked you to look away,” he said with a smirk.

“Oh God! Sorry!” I said, quickly turning my head to look at the wall.

“I am not ashamed of my body. You may look if you wish,” he said as I scooted forward and he stepped in behind me.

Thankfully the tub was very deep and large enough for both of us. Sadly, he still had to bend his knees slightly when he relaxed back and pulled me against him. He wrapped his arms around me and I placed mine over his resting my head back on his shoulder.

~~~

The soaking tub loosened my muscles as I relaxed further into him. I knew the iron tub would keep the water hot for hours, and I allowed myself to get lost in the sensation of his hands rubbing up and down my arms. He reached for the washcloth behind him and squeezed some bath gel into it before easing me forward and washing my back. His touch was exhilarating and soothing at the same time. He used his large hands to rinse the soap before continuing his task down my arms.

I reached my hand back, palm up, and he squeezed some of the gel into it. I proceeded to wash his long legs, bending them to me so I could reach and washed his feet and toes. He laughed a little when I touched him, but quickly moaned as I began massaging them. He pushed my shoulders lower into the water wetting my hair. We silently caressed and cleaned each other where we could reach, except where I most wanted to touch and longed for his touch in return.

His hands ran down my shoulders and across my chest before sliding down over my breasts. I arched my back when he circled and gently kneaded my globes. I could feel my nether lips growing slick from the inside, and my mind begged him to move his hands further down.

My wish was granted when one hand moved down across my stomach continuing until it was cupping my mound. One finger pushed between my labia and it circled my sensitive clit before sliding between my folds. A gasp followed by a moan escaped my lips and I moved my hips in response.

I reached one hand behind my back between us and exhaled when I connected with his cock. My fingers wrapped around his shaft, and I squeezed him once before running my flat palm down the front of his shaft to his scrotum gently cupping him and massaging his balls.

I felt his body tense slightly, and I imagined the tightness of his abs as he moved into my touch. His finger pushed into me easily sliding with the moistness of my entrance that pulled him in and clenched around his finger.

“Eeriic,” I moaned.

His finger moved faster, and I felt the tip of his thumb begin to rub and circle across my swollen bud before a second finger plunged into me to join the first. I couldn’t believe how quickly I felt my stomach begin to tighten. Then again, it had been years since I allowed anyone to touch me so intimately.

My hand cupped and gently pulled on his sac eliciting a breathy hiss from him. I heard his fangs click down and his hand covered mine as he guided it up to wrap around his shaft and began moving it up and down until I had the rhythm he wanted, and then I continued my moments the way he’d shown me. I circled the tip with my thumb before grasping him tighter and starting over again.

His hips were moving against me as he thrust up into my hand. He pushed his fingers deeper, curling them up into me until I gasped and held my breath.

“Let go,” he whispered, “Let me feel you.”

His voice was all I needed as I cried out and gripped him tightly. His hips undulated with my movement and he pulled me back flush to his chest. He thrust against my hand and back a few more times until he loudly cried out with his own release, dispensing his cool cum across my back.

~~~

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

He laughed and wrapped his arms around me, kissing the back of my head and down to my neck.

“Why didn’t you bite me?” I asked, trying to catch my breath, but relaxing further against his chest.

“Oh, we are not finished yet, songbird.”

~~~

Aurelia Gliwiski as Chelsea ‘Cricket’ Kerrigan

Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman

BACK         NEXT

A/N: Thank you MsBuffy for your editing and encouragement! This story wouldn’t be what it is without you, my friend!! Also, thank you to Gyllene for the perfect banner! 

Have a wonderful vacation, MsBuffy!!

Thanks for reading! Please review!