miracles - eric northman

chapter twenty-nine

| TWENTY-NINE |
DELICATE

          It was days later when Eira opened her eyes next. Eric had tried to heal her with his blood and her physical injuries healed but she still would not wake. It seemed whatever happened in the forest where he found her could not be healed by his blood.

              So Eric took her to a hospital after consulting Dr. Ludwig (who was useless) hoping they'd have a cure since his blood was not. He waited for five days pacing her hospital room; all of the staff were too afraid to tell him that he was staying past visiting hours.

          When she did open her eyes, he was too busy pacing to notice. But it didn't take long before she drew his attention because once her eyes landed on him, it was like she had all the energy in the world. She had leaped out of bed as she called his name with a wide smile, "Eric."

           In an instant, he was holding her off the ground as she hugged him. She had her arms wrapped around his neck while she rested her head against the crook of his shoulder. His arms were wrapped around her and held her tightly like he was afraid she'd vanish if he held her any differently.

           "You're not supposed to be out of bed so quickly," he lectured.

            "Since when do you care about rules?"

           "When it's about your well-being, I do," he said as he walked before setting her down on the bed.

          She smiled a bit before she smoothed a hand down his chest to linger over his undead heart, "You have no idea how much I missed you."

           His lips quirked, "I think I have an idea."

           "How long have I been...gone?" she questioned.

              "Over a month," he informed before his eyes became guarded. "I searched for you...endlessly. I couldn't feel you."

           "You wouldn't have. There was a spell," she said before she moved her hand to caress his cheek.

            "You wouldn't wake when I found you," he said. "You've been here for five days. I thought..."

               That you might never wake up. But he didn't voice that. Instead, he shook his head as he swallowed, "That doesn't matter now."

         Eric placed his hands on either side of her. He leaned a bit closer towards her and his eyes were dark, protective like he'd kill anything that took her out of his sight. It made her heartbeat quicken.

               "How do you feel?" he asked curiously; his mind waiting for some horrible side effect to present itself.

            "I'm fine, Eric. I feel fine," she drowned in his sky blue eyes that were staring at her with such intensity.

          "Are you sure? Because..." she went to cut him off by kissing him but they were both interrupted.

          "Eric! Isn't it about time you got back to Fangtasia?" Eira was surprised to find Bill entering her hospital room in a fancy suit and an entourage of guards waited outside.

           Eric glared at Bill as he turned his head to the vampire. Eric could only guess why Bill was here: he had designs to somehow get Eira's blood. It would explain why he only got a simple lecture about his methods to find Eira. Now that Sookie had disappeared, it left Bill free to go after the blood that was so special in the veins of his human.

        "I hardly think that's appropriate right now. She's only just woken..."

          "Now, Eric," Bill commanded.