Chapter 3
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The salt air licked at her face, the ocean breeze whipping her sun-kissed hair into tangles. It was the life, for better or worse, that she was used to now. For over four months, Eric Northman, the captain of one of the fiercest pirate ships around was the man she lived to please. After his attempt to bring her to his side, and forget all sense of propriety in doing so, she welcomed him into her bed, which had been his bed, and in due course which became their bed. The very idea that she was here at all was like a dream. Since she had met him, never did she think she would see him again. Her father took her to sea, taking care to avoid the paths that would lead Sookie back into the hands of the Viking Pirate that stole her heart. He looked like a Viking to her, but she wasn't sure if he really was as they lived in was the 15th century and Vikings were the stuff of history.

 

She remembered overhearing her father one night, under the cover of the moon, speaking in soft tones to a few of his most trusted officers.

“Are you sure it was him, Captain?” his second asked him, taking a moment to compose himself after hearing the Northman name. “I had thought those blood pirates were all dead.”

“As I had thought at one time, Claude,” Niall said, pacing the deck of the ship. “But there are still a few yet. And now we have one of the worst following us.”

“All because of your daughter,” Claude sneered, and Niall reacted instantly, connecting his fist with his jaw. Claude fell back, holding his chin, his eyes widening in shock.

“You will not address my daughter that way,” Niall warned him.

“But it’s the truth!” Claude said, defying his lord and captain.

“As it is, there is nothing I can do about it,” Niall conceded, holding out a hand to help Claude up, which he accepted timidly. “Sookie doesn't know any better. I have kept the dealings of the Blood Pirates out of her head for a reason.”

“And what is that?” Bill asked, taking a step closer to the men. He was one of those in charge that had to prove himself before getting a heightened position. He himself used to be one of the so called Blood Pirates, but he never told Niall about it. Since the moment he saw Sookie, he followed her, taking orders from those he deemed beneath himself, in order to get closer to her. She was every man's wet dream, and he wanted her for himself. Sookie didn't want him, and it sent him into a frenzy when she would deny him. He wanted blood for the humiliation he had gone through to get closer to her, first becoming a cabin boy then working his way up doing menial labor aboard ship. Such treatment was teasing the beast in him, and the thought of Northman wanting her was getting under his skin.

“Because she seemed on good terms with him when they were on the beach,” Niall said shaking his head. “We have to stay on this path, we cannot let him get to her.”

“He can't get to her,” Bill protested, his emotions getting the better of him. “She won't go to him!”

“No, she won't,” Claude said, his tone resigned. “They were acting familiar on land when we found them. Northman was about to kiss her.”

“What?!” Bill shouted in outrage. ‘He can't have her, she is mine!’ he thought wildly, his mind frantically running through scenarios where he would kill him for daring to touch her. “We must keep him from her.”

“What's it to you, Bill?” Claude asked, his eyes narrowing in dark speculation at the young midshipman's outburst. He had a feeling that Bill had feelings for Sookie, but this was too much. He could practically see his desire for her, rolling off him in lustful waves.

“Sookie needs to be protected,” Bill stated flatly, not rising to the bait Claude tried to dangle in front of him.

“Calm down, both of you,” Niall warned, lost in his own thoughts as strong waves crashed against his vessel, momentarily bobbling it. “What is best for Sookie is up to me, and me alone. No one else has a say in what I deem is worthy for her.”

With that, they discontinued their conversation about Sookie, and moved on to more important things: how to avoid the Blood Pirates.

When she was sure they were done talking about her, she had gone back to her cabin and thought about what she’d heard. Now that Sookie knew what Eric was capable of, she understood their need to keep her protected, to not allow him to grab hold of her. Since he had had her, he made it very clear she was never going to leave his side. He practically branded her as his own, taking hold of her, and making her his in every way.

Eric had been gentle with her the first time they made love, but since then, it had been all about what new places he could come up with for their escapades, as if he wanted conquests and not intimacy, as if he were marking territory. His first mate, Pam, while intrigued with Sookie, had never gotten close to her. Sookie was upset; she wanted someone to talk to on the ship that was a woman, but Pam, she found out the hard way, wasn't very womanly. She was more like one of the guys, though she had soft curves and a woman’s scent.

The other women on board, the ones that were used and passed around, Eric had told her, no commanded her to stay away from. They stayed in the crew’s quarters below the main deck of the ship. She was outraged that he kept whores on his ship, but he just waved it off, saying every man needed a bed warmer. He called them spoils of war, but he wasn't in any war.

As much as she tried to hate him, to distance herself from him, her body traitorously wouldn't follow. One touch, one look from him, and she was putty in his hands. He knew it, and he used it against her. Eventually, after a month, she quit her protests and welcomed him fully into her heart. It wasn't without recompense, she made him promise to cherish it, to never have another as well. He took a while to consider it, longer than she liked, but he came around.

She looked out at the calm sea flatlining against the azure sky in the distance and sighed contentedly. Life at sea she loved. She loved it even more now that she was with a man that she felt passionately about. Eric had done all he could to make her life easy, to make her want to be there on his ship with him. She missed her father, but knew she couldn't see him again, especially since she’d overheard what his opinion was of Eric. She couldn't help falling in love with him, and knew her father would not approve.

It was almost mid-afternoon when she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her from behind. “My lover,” the voice purred against her ear. She pushed back against him, his arms tightening around her, and tilted her head back for a kiss. He obliged her, one hand trailing up her tailormade gown, and roughly squeezing her breast. She hadn’t been with him when he woke this morning, and she knew he was in need of her body.

“How was your meeting?” she asked innocently, pushing her delicious curve of her bottom into his groin, creating a delicious friction for his cock. He growled into her ear, low and demanding. He needed her now.

“Nothing that can't wait,” he said, shifting her skirt, his hands coming up and cupping her sex. She gasped at the suddenness, turning in his arms and slapping his chest.

“Eric,” she hissed, “Not here. There are men about!” But he didn't listen. One hand grabbed her ass, hoisting her up on the railing, while the other undid his pants. In seconds, he was fully buried inside of her, her cries muffled into his shirt. “Eric! Eric!” she screamed out, as he moved inside of her with vigor.

“That's right lover, let everyone know who fucks you,” he huskily urged, while he continued thrusting. “Your mine, Sookie. Say it.”

“I am, I am yours,” she moaned, her lips capturing his in a heated kiss. With each downstroke, she mewled responsively, his own grunts following each rapturous plunge. Their mutual cries climbed to a hot frenzy till their orgasms both hit them, rushing over them ruthlessly as they screamed each others names.

“Oh, Eric, Eric,” she softly sighed, as he kissed her face, disengaging himself from her. Every time they had sex, it was earth shattering, even in moments like this when his need for her was too great to be loving.

“My Sookie,” he said, setting her back on her feet and fixing her skirts. She laid her head on his broad shoulders, trembling with her pleasure. After a few minutes he took her hand, and lead her up to the helm of the ship. Sookie wasn't anywhere near where the crew were, as most of them were on the main deck, working the sails.

When they approached the wheel, Pam was already standing there, hands on her hips and a smirk on her face.

“Sounds like you two had some fun,” she teased, earning a blush from Sookie. Pam laughed.

“Pamela,” Eric said, his tone one of warning. She stopped drawing attention from the shipmates, but was still chuckling. Her eyes danced with amusement.

“Aye, Aye, Captain,” she said, saluting him and going back to her business, but not before winking at Sookie.

Eric pulled Sookie up to his chest and looked out at his crew working. Sookie enjoyed days like this, on the open sea, Eric holding her tight as the ship sailed with the wind. But she still missed her father, wishing she could see him again.

“Where are we going, Eric?” she asked quietly, her hand resting behind his neck. He leaned down and kissed her neck leisurely, keeping a watchful eye on the sea.

“Somewhere for trade,” he said cryptically. She turned her head and narrowed her eyes.

“You mean you are looking for trouble.”

Eric snorted, nuzzling her neck. “I never look for trouble, Sookie. It finds me is all.”

She shook her head. At moments like this she wished Eric wasn't a pirate, wasn't a man that stole from others. She had heard stories about him from his men on board, about how merciless he was, how cutthroat. She didn't want to think about him in that context, but here it was, staring her in the face. Eric was a Blood Pirate, as her father had said, and he was one of the worst.

“Promise me, Eric.”

“What is that, dear one?” he asked, his lips tracing a soft path up the long column of her neck.

“Promise me that you won't get hurt, that you won't hurt others,” she pleaded, her eyes filling with moisture. His own eyes hardened and he straightened up, freeing her from his arms.

“Sookie, you know who I am,” he admonished her coldly. “This is what I do, and no one, not even you, can change that.”

Sookie's eyes leaked the moisture, tears running down her face. She shook her head, not wanting to believe that she could be on a ship, with a man intent to kill anyone else his ship and crew came across. Hell, she hated that he had other women on board that were being abused every night, but she couldn't do anything about it. Sookie even complained about it, but that only drew a wedge between them.

“Don't do this, Eric,” she said, wiping hot tears from her cheeks. She glared at him, standing her ground, gathering what little bit of composure she had left.

“I am doing nothing woman, you know your place,” he said, and she heard a few cheers from behind her, alerting her to the fact that his crew were watching them. She knew better than to defy him in front of them. This conversation wasn't over yet, and she gave him a hateful look, walking past him to go to his quarters. She started to walk towards his cabin, what she considered her own, but decided instead to go to the mess hall where she sat on a bench, listening to the chef in the kitchen cooking something up for dinner that evening.

It all came back to this: Sookie loved Eric, but she missed her father. She had to choose between them, and her decision was becoming more clear as she sailed with Eric and got to know the real him. In the beginning, he was loving, but now, he was transforming back into the Cutthroat Pirate she had feared before she knew him.

Sookie found herself wanting to go home to her father, but how? It was the only choice that made her feel right. She would miss Eric, but for now, in her life, he wasn't the right choice for her. 

A/N:uh, oh! Sounds like she is getting idea's.lol. I wonder what Eric will think :P Big thanks to nyc for editing this for me and making it shine! Next chapter will be up soon, and we shall see what Eric thinks of all this.