chapter sixteen

                The Shreveport pack and a handful of unaffiliated wolves were at Merlotte’s. The panthers of Hot Shot were there as well. Luna and Sam were in the middle. “Look,” said Sam. “Sookie has been a friend to everyone here, all she needs is a little protection until she can get away.”

                “Guarding Sookie is a dangerous thing. Tray, died protecting her,” argued Annabelle.

                “But she took Maria Star to the hospital and she then went out on a limb to find her killer and she stood by our pack master during he were wars,” said Al Cumberland.

                “Sookie has a brother who is two natured, a panther, and she tried her best to care for our people, especially Crystal when she was in trouble,” said Calvin. “And she found the one who was after the shifters when I got shot. I ain’t forgetting that.”

                “Why can’t your boss take care of her?” asked Culpepper. “Isn’t Sookie all cozied up with that Shreveport vamp?”

                “Eric is helping, but he needs your help, particularly during the day. I will be there of course, but he needs more,” said Khan.

                “How can you stand to work for those things Khan?” asked Sean Parnell.

                “I don’t mind Eric and Eric does not mind me,” said Khan.

                “So, what does Eric want?” asked Al.

                “He needs two things,” said Khan. “He needs your help up to June 21 and he needs three people guarded. Two are women not involved with Sookie, but are in need of protection.”

                “How many fucking women does these fangers have?” asked Lambert.

                “He just needs them to be secure. He needs day people only. Eric assures me he will reward the two natured who take this on,” said Mustafa.

                “The panthers will take care of Sookie,” said Calvin.

                “Sookie is a friend of the pack,” said Alcide. “We can take on some of the duty and we can provide escort for these other women.”

                “How much?” asked Parnell.

                “You won’t get a dime and you better be careful or I will abjure you,” said Alcide. “You have been on the edge of trouble too many times. Besides, I want females to guard these women, look less out of  place.”

                “One of them is a school teacher, at Bon Temps Community College,” said Mustafa.

                “She needs to be careful, not all them teachers are friendly to the supernatural community,” said Al. “Remember Emilio, we had to take a class and that guy was just unfair?”

                “”Yeah, not obvious enough to be able to complain but just enough to know it, he didn’t like you and he would not be fair with you,” said Emilio.

                “What is his name?” asked Mustafa. Emilio said the name. The were nodded. He had heard that name before.

                Sookie was at the kitchen table. She had a yellow legal pad and she was writing letters. She had a stack of manila envelopes and a pile of cash on her table. Amelia, whose family was well to do, was even nervous to see all that money there. Sookie read over what she had written and put together several bundles of money, around ten thousand dollars and folded the note and put the money and the note in the envelope and sealed it. She wrote Tara’s name on it. This had been the second package for Tara. Ten Thousand for the twins to start their college money and ten thousand to help her and JB til Bill could get his insurance and she could get her insurance taken care of and rebuild Tara’s Togs.

                She then grabbed an envelope and put a stack of money in it, about three thousand, to give to Calvin Norris, to help out for Hot Shot. He might be too proud to take the money as a gift for himself, but Jason said they needed some money to dig a couple of wells. “Amelia, can you find water?” asked Sookie.

                “Sure,” she said.

                “Well, Jason said the wells at Hot Shot are running dry and they need to find new wells. They can dig it out, but they need someone to find the wells. Will you do it for free?” asked Sookie.

                “Sure, a couple of days out I should be able to find several wells for them,” said Amelia.

                “Thanks,” she said. “They can use this money to hire the machinery to get to the wells.” She wrote Calvin’s name on it and sealed it up. She put together a large bundle for Jason. The large gift of money was already set aside and bundled up for Sam to take to Desmond Cataliades to manage for Jason. But this was for immediate needs. She tucked in a letter and sealed it with the money, writing his name on it. Preston got a cardboard box and stacked the envelopes inside. There were smaller envelopes to places like the garden club and the Descendents of the Glorious Dead with smaller gifts and there were letters to still others. They would be given when she was gone.

                “Where do you want these things taken?” asked Preston.

                “To the back closet, I’ll give it to Sam when he comes over later to tell me what happened at the meeting,” she said. Sookie wiped her head.

                “Are you running a fever?” asked Amelia.

                “I am a little warm,” said Sookie. “I turned on the air conditioner. I want the house to be cool for Hunter when he comes.”

                “When is he coming?” asked Amelia.

                “They are getting him tomorrow, after we strengthen the wards,” said Sookie. Amelia and Preston both had been adamant that the full moon was the only time the wards could be worked. Sookie was disappointed about that, but Bubba had been to check on the boy and he reported that the boy was fine, though he was sad.

                Just a little longer buddy, and we will come and get you.

                Rachel sat there, listening to Bill as he explained about the blood bond. “And this would make you closer to me, and you would know where I was with the bond?” she asked.

                “I would,” he said. “I would be more able to protect you at night.”

                “And you think Sky and I need daytime people to protect us?” she asked.

                “I do,” he said.

                “Do you want to be bonded with me?” she asked. He nodded. “Why?”

                “Because I care about you,” he said.

                “Does it hurt you, if I take your blood?” she asked.

                “No,” he said. “Especially if we do it when we are in bed, together.”

                “When we are making love?” she asked. He nodded. “I don’t know if I can bite you Bill.”

                “You can,” he said. “Or I can use a knife.”

                “You look excited about it,” she said.

                “I am,” he said. “Rachel…I…I have fallen in love with you.”

                “What?” she said.

                “I love you,” said Bill, his voice soft. “And if I can make the bond with you, I will be opening myself up to you in a way vampires rarely like doing. I will not only feel you in the bond, going about your daily life, but you will feel me.”

                “Even bad things?” she asked.

                “I won’t lie to you, you will feel everything I am feeling emotionally and you will be able to find me too, but I never want you to act on those feelings. There will be nothing you can do about it,” he said.

                “I don’t know if I could ignore a distress call Bill,” she said.

                “It is an important decision but with the bond, other vampires cannot interfere with you. It is stronger than the mine statement. It is like…we are engaged.”

                “That makes me close to being vampire,” said Rachel.

                “It does and you have to think about how you feel about that,” said Bill. “There will be times when we need to renew the bond, and I will know when, but it will be a powerful form of protection for you.”

                “I don’t know if I want to be that close to being a vampire,” said Rachel. Bill looked down. “Hey, not because I think being vampire is bad, it’s just that, if I were to be made vampire, I would want you to be the one to make me that way.”

                “Do you love me Rachel?” he asked. Rachel looked down and away. “Rachel, do you love me.”

                Rachel had never said the words before. She had never really loved anyone, even her former lovers. She had felt she could love them, or she felt she cared a great deal about them, but she had never told any man she loved them. She did love Bill, but she was afraid to say it, afraid it would break the spell. Bill cupped her small face in his big cool hands. She moved closer to him, slid her arms around him, and squeezed him.

                “I love you,” she said simply. Bill pressed her close against his silent cool body and they were like that for some time.

                Jason was sitting there with his mouth open. “You are going away, with our cousin Hadley’s little boy and this dude here that you don’t even really know to a place you can’t even get back from if you wanted.”

                “That is about the size of it,” she said.

                “What am I supposed to tell people?” asked Jason.

                “Bill and Eric are going to arrange my death,” said Sookie. “An accident.”

                “God damned vampires,” said Jason. “First, Gran gets killed and then Hadley gets made a vampire and then killed and now you. God damned vampires.”

                “Jason, they are helping me and Hunter. We will never be safe here. And it isn’t just vampires anymore, it is humans too,” said Sookie.

                “I ain’t never gonna know what happened to you,” said Jason.

                “Actually, we will be able to send you a note from time to time. Not very often, not for a long time, but we can let you know if we are safe and well,” said Preston.

                “You better take real good care of my sister else I will get you. I don’t know how but I will get you,” said Jason. “And it won’t be pretty.”

                “It is nothing less than I would expect,” said Preston. He went back to looking down at a book Amelia had open. She had a book of fae magik as practiced by humans but Preston was surprised at the fact such magik actually exists. The spell was a little busy but he said it would work with some careful editing. He had been working with Amelia for a while and finally they were confident of what they had. “We have our opening spell.”

                “You are sure it will work?” asked Jason. “Wouldn’t want my sister to end up on Mars.”

                “This will work,” said Preston.

                “I will call Octavia and read the spell out to her and see what she thinks,” said Amelia. “That is if you don’t mind.”

                “Do what will give you the most confidence,” said Preston. Preston reached out and touched Sookie on the shoulder and she looked up at him and smiled.

                Rachel held onto Bill, tightening her arms around him. She pulled his head down and kissed him. He was still moving gently against her, inside her. She had said she loved him and felt all the fear she had fly out of her like expelling an evil spirit. She kissed his shoulder and neck and smelled his sweetness and his otherness. Without a thought of her own and without warning she bared her teeth to his skin and bit down hard. For a second there was a feeling of panic as though she would choke and she felt Bill raise up with her, pulling her onto his thighs and snugging her against him still inside her. “Breathe sweet heart, swallow,” he crooned softly and shivered a little with pleasure as she sucked on his skin and drank his blood. He began to rock her again and though she was dizzy, she was moving with him. When the wound healed, she raised up to look at him. He smiled and stroked her face. He kissed her mouth and there was a little drop of his blood on her lips and chin. When he was finally near his end, he put his mouth on her neck, she put her hand on the back of his head, and when he let go in his orgasm, he bit down on her. He squeezed her as he drank from her. Rachel felt herself being laid down on the surface of the bed.

                “I’m dizzy,” she whispered.

                “You are intoxicated,” he said. “The blood does that.” He leaned down and kissed her. His eyes looked half lidded.

                “Are you stoned too?” she said.

                “Yes,” he said. “The simple bond is very beautiful, but the true bond will be heavenly. “
                “You have had my blood before,” she said.

                “Yes, but now it is mixed a little with mine,” he said. “It changes the magik of it.”

                “Do you have to go tonight?” she asked.

                “Yes,” he said. “In fact I have to get dressed soon. I have to meet again with Eric, he and I are going to get the little boy tomorrow night.”

                “I wish you didn’t have to go,” she said.

                “I know,” he said. “The sooner we get Sookie on her way and safe the sooner I can be in your bed more often.”

                “If I had my way, I would keep you in my bed all night,” she said.

                “I promise to give you an entire night’s attention when all of this is over,” he said. “I love you.”

                “I love you Bill,” she said.

                Jason had gone home by the time Bill pulled in Sookie’s yard. She stood up and watched him step up on her porch and peck on the screen door. “Come in Bill,” said Sookie.

                “Sookie, you should have your door closed and locked,” said Bill as he came in.

                “I knew you were on your way,” she said. She frowned at Bill. He looked at her quizzically.

                “Are you okay Sookie?” asked Bill.

                “Yeah,” said Sookie. “You just smell different.” Bill said nothing. Of course he smelled differently, he was bonding with someone.

                “Are you sure you are okay, you seem to have a fever,” said Bill.

                “I’m fine,” she said. “It must just be anxiety.”

                “Sookie, there are some spells I can work tonight,” said Amelia, coming out with an old tattered notebook in her hand. “Hey Bill.” Bill nodded at Amelia. “There is a go away spell and a vamp repelling spell.”

                “Well, unless I can exclude the friendly vamps I don’t want that one worked. I need for my friendly vamps to be able to protect Hunter,” said Sookie. Amelia looked a little down hearted.

                “I can still work the keep away magik,” said Amelia. “And I can work something called the empty house spell. It will make the house look empty and abandoned for anyone who wants to do you harm.”

                “Will it work on vampires?” asked Bill.

                “You are appallingly susceptible to magik,” said Amelia.

                “Again, can you exclude our friendly vampires?” asked Sookie.

                “Any vampire who has your invitation can see through the spell,” said Amelia. “In fact, I bet the

Invitation can protect the friendly vampires from the repelling spell.”

                “Well, work that in, “said Sookie. “We have to make sure they can get in and protect Hunter.”

                “Do you think that spell, the repelling spell can work on my house?” asked Bill.

                “Sure,” she said. “It would work like the magik that keeps you out of a house you have not been invited into.”

                “Bill, what happens to vampires who try to come into a house they haven’t been invited into?” asked Sookie.

                “They vomit up blood, they bleed, like vampires do when they are up past the sun,” said Bill. “They burn, not like when they are in the sun, but they burn slow, painfully.”

                “That is good to know,” said Amelia. “I can add those details to your house, so they have those same reactions to the wards around your house. Preston can help me with these spells and then we will do the same to your house.”

                “Thank you,” said Bill. Another car pulled in, Eric in his corvette. He got out and stepped up on the porch.

                “May I come in?” he asked.

                “Come on in, Amelia is just going over some magik she can work now to protect my house and Bill’s house,” said Sookie.

                “Excellent,” said Eric. “Diantha Cataliades and I are going after him tomorrow night, as soon as the sun goes down”

                “I will be ready for him,” said Sookie.

                “Shall we do this Preston?”  asked Amelia.

                “Let’s go,” said Preston.

                Sookie, Bill and Eric were standing on the porch and Preston and Amelia were out in the yard. They were back to back, beginning to chant the spells. Preston had his hands up and to Sookie he seemed to glow, as if he was lit up inside. Amelia was waving a feather over a bowl that smoked with something noxious. They began to walk, opposite one another and chanted the spell.

                The spells had a familiar cadence to her, something she identified though she was a Christian and had always felt funny about magik being used around her, as if she was doing something that was very nonChristian to do. For some reason though, she felt as though she was being drawn into the yard. The slight fever made the soft wind cool on her skin. She closed her eyes and began to sway.

                “Sookie,” said Eric. “Are you okay?”

                “Can you hear that?” she asked.

                “Hear what Sookie?” asked Bill.

                “That music,” she said. “You can’t hear it?”

                “Sookie, please sit down,” said Eric.

                “No, I want to dance,” she said. She pulled free of Eric and went out into the yard. She spun and twirled, hearing the music of flutes and something like a guitar and a tambourine. She clapped her hands and laughed. She could see the nearly full moon. It was blurry, like the time she drank homemade wine and was tipsy. She could just about taste the sweet metallic taste of the wine in her mouth.

                She woke up on the ground. It felt cool and warm on her back at the same time. She looked down and someone was kneeling over her, their head on her stomach. What?

                “Am I okay?” she asked. Eric looked up at her.

                “Sookie, you are pregnant,” he said.

                The next thing she knew was Preston was kneeling beside her and had his arm around her shoulders and Amelia was standing between Eric and Preston.

                “I was not going to hurt her,” said Eric. “I was listening.”

                “What do you know about human women?” asked Preston.

                “Preston, Eric has been human before, and he is a vampire, it is their job to know about humans and their physiologies,” said Amelia.

                “Vampires eat pregnant women, children,” said Preston.

                “I would not hurt Sookie, or her baby,” Eric said, a disgusted look on his face. “I have never eaten a pregnant woman or a baby.”

                “Keep your distance from Sookie and my baby,” said Preston. He picked her up and stood up with her and carried her into the house.

                “Are you sure Eric?” asked Bill.

                “It was very faint, like a tiny flutter, and I was about to give her blood, but when I heard it, I knew she was with child and I didn’t give her blood,” said Eric. 

                “She will become more fae now,” said Amelia. “The baby is ¾ fae, even more fae than she is, and its blood will change her very quickly. Her abilities will grow stronger; she will suffer the same sort of weaknesses the fae suffer in this world. Lemons, iron, some kinds of magik. She can’t have vampire blood. Neither she or the baby.”

                “She should go to the doctor,” said Bill. “Dr. Ludwig will be able to confirm the pregnancy and do things for her.”

                “I know what I heard,” said Eric. “She is pregnant.” He was agitated and anxious.

                “Eric, let me break the bond for you,” said Amelia. “We can do the same spell I did with Sookie to break her bond with you.”

                “Stay away from me,” said Eric backing away from her, his hands out, palms outward warding her away. “Just...stay the fuck away from me.” Eric got into his car and took off. Bill stood by Amelia.

                “What did I do?” she said.

                “You did nothing wrong,” said Bill. “Do you think Preston will come back and help you secure my house?”

                “Yeah, wait for me,” said Amelia.

                Bill stood there in the quiet of the night. He looked up into the sky, seeing the sky as humans had not seen it in a very long time.  Even when he was human, the light was too bright to see what he could see in the dark sky. He wished he could show Rachel the millions of stars in the sky and the constellations. One night, he would he bring her out and they would make love on a blanket and he would lay beneath her and look up and see her dark silhouette against a background of the universe.

                “Hey, star gazer,” said Amelia.

                “Sorry, I like seeing the stars,” he said.

                “Must be something spectacular. Preston is ready, we are ready to go to your house and work the spells for you.”

                “Let’s go,” said Bill.

                Sky seemed to be waiting for Eric. He knocked at her door and she opened it and he walked in. He said nothing, just reached out to her, his hand sliding into the curls of her impossibly red hair and cradling her head in his big hand. He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth, not gently, but not forcefully and she put her arms around his neck. He pulled her against him with his other hand and she could feel his body pressed against her, the coolness coming through his clothes. She should stop this, but she couldn’t. She had been waiting for him. For how long? It had been longer than this one night. He was the vampire she knew her parents dreaded. They had sensed his coming and deep down she knew it too. She had a lot of opportunities to be a friend of the fang, take a vampire lover, but she had waited, she had watched and something in her knew, when she saw him, sullen and disagreeable in the garden below he was the one. He was pulling at her clothes now and was surprised to feel she was doing the same to him.

                She pulled away and backed up and pulled her soft silk blouse over her head and he pulled his tee shirt off. She went to the drawstring of her pants, pulled one of the strings, and loosened them and they slid down her legs. He unbuttoned and unzipped his pants and pulled them down, toeing off his tennis shoes and pulling off his socks. He watched her as she slid out of her tiny silk panties and his fangs slid out when he saw the burning red curls over her sex. She walked back to him and he pulled her against him. She could feel the cool hardness of his body and the carved ivory of his large and heavily veined penis, pressed against her belly. She turned, bringing her with him and backed toward the bed. He followed her as she slid into bed and laid on top of her. He looked at her, her red curls on the creamy whiteness of the pillow, the golden glow from her little bedside lamps catching the tiny blond streaks in her hair, making it alive.

                “Beautiful,” he whispered, and slid into her. He gasped at her heat. It was as if he had slid into the heart of the sun. This could burn him. She could finish him and he would shout in praise of his demise she was so powerful. She was the goddess he had long stopped believing in, Freya, she was all lover, mother, and queen, and he was nothing, an infant, a child before her. He began to thrust against her and she moved with him, tightening around him in her own complex rhythm. Her hands burned wherever she touched him and he spoke in the language he heard from his cradle and through his human manhood as he both praised and cursed her. He wanted her, but a part of him did not want her to feel this way, this desirable, this tempting.  He didn’t want to feel this way about her, this comfort and arousal and awakening. He thought surely Sookie was the only one who could make him feel this way.

                She ran her nails over the skin of his back and he arched his back, flexing his hips deeper into her and she wrapped her legs around him. Her pores had opened and the lovely scent of her arousal surrounded her. He growled and rose up on his knees and raised her hips to him and slammed into her and she came, crying out and her wet heat dampened the golden curls around his prick and the fire colored curls of her cunny.  He pulled her up and she pumped her hips toward him. He put his hands on her head and held her so he could look into her impossibly green eyes. They looked like fertile fields of wheat just before they turned golden before the harvest. She was taking him, grinding her hips each time she thrust forward. He was going to come, she was too, and it was not simply that he was completing the act, she was making him come and she was making him come with her. He gasped in a hiss as she went faster, her thighs tightening around him and suddenly they both cried out, looking into each other’s eyes. She was crying and he was surprised to realize he had cried too. She wiped his face with her hands, leaving smeary bloody tracks on his cheeks.

                “You didn’t drink from me,” she panted.

                “That’s not what I needed from you,” he said.

                “What did you need, Eric,” she asked, still breathless.

                “Just what you gave me,” he said. “Just what you gave me.”

                Eric watched her as she drew her curtains tightly and made sure there were no cracks between them. She was naked and unselfconscious of it. She went into her kitchen area and pulled out a bottle of water. “Want a TrueBlood?”

                “I am fine,” he said. “Come back to bed.”

                “What type do you like?” she asked.

                “I beg your pardon?” he asked.

                “Of blood?” she asked.

                “O is fine,” he said. “Come back to bed.” She came and sat on the edge of the bed. He put his hand on her forearm and pulled her close to him.

                “Wait Eric,” she said. “Why?” He looked at her, his eyebrows drawn down.

                “Why?”

                “Did I just have sex with someone who just needed to get off?” she asked. “Or is there something about me that is simply irresistible and you can’t stay away.”

                “Eighty percent of the later, twenty percent of the former,” said Eric. “Lie down next to me.”

                “Wait, Eric,” she said. “So what happened tonight that you had to come and get into my panties.” Eric let go of her and looked away. “Okay, not a good sign.”

                “Sookie Stackhouse is pregnant,” he said.

                “Oh,” she said. “So I am a comfort fuck.”

                “That was not a very attractive thing to say,” said Eric.

                “Well, am I right?” she asked.

                “No, you are not a comfort fuck,” he said. “I did need comforting, but I did not make love with you for that. If I were, I would have drank from you.”

                “So what is it, why are you here?” she asked.

                “Because I needed something, something I needed but I didn’t know it, something that had no claim on me, something I had no claim on,” he said.

                “I’m lost Eric,” she said.

                “I can’t give you human things, I am not even sure I can…care about you… not the way you should be cared for. I can’t promise to pretend to be human, I can’t make you pregnant, I can’t promise to be empathetic to other humans. What I can promise you is my companionship and my loyalty and I will not have sex with anyone but you. I don’t even know what I can call this,” he said.

                “So am I just your bed buddy?” she asked.

                “No, but I don’t know how to define you in my world. The last time I defined someone in my life, beyond my child, my progeny, I felt her despise who I am and what I am and at the same time she was professing to love me. I made her a wife in my world, and she always played down its importance, not just to my world but to me,” he said. “You are a beautiful and intelligent woman who knows something about my world, my kind, and maybe that is a part of my…attraction to you. Sookie was not even interested in me, in my world, she mocked it and made light of it.” Eric looked away. “I don’t know what I am trying to say. It is more, believe me, it is more than just…casual. If you can…walk down this road with me for a little while and let me understand what this is, perhaps we both understand it together. Or you can simply say you regret giving me the wonderful gift that was you and I can glamour you and this will be just a dream for you and I will go and stay away from you.” He pulled her to him. “Say it Sky and I will never trouble you again.”

                “Don’t break my heart Eric,” she said, brushing her lips over his.

                “I’ll try not to,” he said.

                Sookie woke up and stretched. Preston was curled around her, his hand tented over her belly. Pregnant. Was this real? Could this be happening to her? She looked at Preston. He was so happy last night, when he came home from Bill’s house, Amelia went to bed and he came to her. His face was lit up with joy. He came to her and pulled her blouse up to expose her belly. He caressed her and leaned down and kissed her belly and there was a tingling there. “Did you know?” she asked.

                “No, when I came around the house I saw you on the ground and Eric was astride you and his head was on your belly and his hands were on your hips and I thought he was biting you and then I heard him say you were pregnant and I ran to you.”

                “Eric would never hurt me,” she said.

                “You are now no longer the human with a streak of fae. You are sharing your blood with a fairy baby and it will transform your blood and your being. You will be so irresistible,” said Preston.

                “I still don’t believe he will hurt me, Bill either,” she said.

                “Sookie, do you want the baby?” he asked. He had been in the human world long enough to know human women often did things to stop the baby.

                “What do you mean?” she asked.

                “You don’t want to rid yourself of the baby do you?” he asked. “I know human women do, they take drugs or they have surgery to take the baby out, they have a legal right to do that.”

                “No, I don’t want to have an abortion,” said Sookie. “I just never thought it would happen to me. I mean, you were right, I was with vampires in most of my relationships and they just can’t. I thought that part of life just would not happen. But no, I don’t want to get rid of the baby.”

                “I think you should call Dr. Ludwig, let her look at you, confirm everything is okay,” said Preston.

                “Who will deliver my baby in Faery?” asked Sookie.

                “That is easy, you will be delivered by the fairy’s midwife,” said Preston.

                 Sookie slid out of bed, went to the bathroom, peed, washed her hands and face and brushed her hair. She wondered if she was going to have some nasty side effects like morning sickness or ugly blemishes or some other thing that will be uncomfortable. “Hey there bump,” she said, rubbing her belly. There was a tingling there.

                She came out of the bathroom. Preston was still asleep. He was beautiful; his skin was glowing in the morning sun coming through her bedroom window, making dappled patterns as it passed through her sheers. She leaned down and kissed his shoulder. She turned and headed out to the kitchen and went to get some juice. Good-bye morning coffee. She walked into the kitchen and found Amelia there, having a cup of tea.

“Morning Sookie, I have some green tea if you want it. No caffeine.”

                “No thanks, I will have orange juice,” she said, looking at her coffee maker.  “I thought I would call Dr. Ludwig and have a check up, confirm the vampire obstetrician’s diagnosis.”

                “Vampires are seldom wrong about these things,” said Amelia.

                “Still, I want to confirm this and stop and see Sam and drop that box off to him,” she said.

                “Will the money be safe there?” asked Amelia.

                “He has a big fireproof safe,” said Sookie. “So will you go to see Dr. Ludwig with me?”

                “Sure,” she said. “Give her a call and get an appointment.”

                Sookie made some breakfast, a bowl of oatmeal and finished her orange juice and drank a glass of milk. Finally she went over to her cell phone, sitting on the side table by the battered old chair and ran her fingertip over the phone book app and flipped through to her number. She found it and called. 

“Hi, this is Sookie Stackhouse,” she said.

“Miss Stackhouse, what sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into now?” she asked.

“Well, according to a vampire I am pregnant,” she said.

“If you plan a paternity suit against him, it won’t stick,” said the hobbit, chuckling to herself.

“No, he just told me I was in that state,” said Sookie.

“What did you do, run into a three toed mountain gnome?” she asked.

“Nope, just your garden variety fae,” she said.

“Come in at two, I can give you a going over,” said Dr. Ludwig.

“I will see you then,” said Sookie. She hung up. She went to do her dishes and Preston woke and came to find her. He slid his arms around her and rubbed her belly. That tingling happened again. “The bump tingles when we touch it.”

“The baby knows us already,” he said.

“I made an appointment today to see Dr. Ludwig,” she said. “She is doctor to the supernatural world so she will not be shocked if she sees Tinker Bell flying around in there.”

“You are having a sky fae, not a common sprite,” said Preston, his voice serious.

“So there is a Tinker Bell?” she asked.

“Yes, old Walt thought he could get humans ready for a time we would come out of the shadows to humans, but it never happened of course,” he said.

“Walt Disney was a fae?” she asked, amazed.

“Yeah, an elf actually, but he was discouraged when your World War II broke out. He went back to Faerie after that,” he said.

“You want some breakfast?” she asked.

“That would be nice,” he said.

“Eggs and sausage and toast?” she suggested.

“What did you have?” he asked.

“Some oatmeal,” she said.

“Then I will have some oatmeal,” he said. Sookie went to work making her man some breakfast.

Sky woke up in the dim light of her apartment. Eric was curled around her, his arm around her waist. Contrary to popular belief, vampires were not stone still during their sleep. They were not as active as humans but they did move around some. She pulled on his wrist and lifted it with some effort and slid away from him. She stood up, feeling a little stiff and sore but that was to be expected, they had made love two more times and there were times they were completely lost to one another, simply moving on automatic. She pulled the blankets up around his shoulder and left him to sleep. She grabbed her robe at the foot of her bed and pulled it on and went to the bathroom and then started her shower. She put her hair up in a cap and stood under the stream of hot water. She noticed a hand print shaped bruise on her hip. When did that happen?

After she showered, she dried off and wrapped a towel around her and went to dig around in her closet. She chose a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, one that read ‘my giveadammer broke’ and slid her feet into worn dirty canvas tennis shoes. Eric could sleep the day away, but she had things she had to get finished.

She fluffed her hair and grabbed her purse, checking to make sure she had her phone and her keys to her office. She grabbed the pad of paper she kept on her desk and wrote Eric a note.

Eric, I went to work, I am not sure when I will be back, though I hope I will be back before you get up for the night.

I don’t know how to feel about this. I hope you are around to speak to me about it. –Sky

She propped it up on the lamp of the bedside table and let herself out, grateful the porch made everything dark and locked her door. She went downstairs and went into the store. She spotted Rachel coming out of the office.

“Hey there Rachel,” said Sky. “Listen, the sheriff is asleep upstairs, I thought I would let you know.”

“Eric is asleep up there?” said Rachel.

“It’s a long story,” said Sky. She looked out the window. “Who is the big guy?”

“Eric’s day guy,” said Rachel.

“Is he here for you?”

“No, he is here for you, and I guess Eric if he is up there asleep,” said Rachel.

“What do you think is going on?” she asked.

“Whatever it is, they are on high alert. I have a werewolf hanging around my house, Bill’s idea,” said Rachel. “I have to admit, this is making me nervous.”

“Where did Bill lay his head to rest this morning?” she asked.

“He is at his house,” said Rachel. “He is coming over for a bit tonight and then he is gone for the night, Eric and he have some things to do and I was told not to leave the house. I imagine the sheriff will be giving you the same advice.”

“Ummmm well I have plenty to do today,” said Sky. “I will try to be home before noon, no later than one.”

“Have a good one,” said Rachel.

Sam and Luna opened the back door of the bar and went in. D’Eriq was already in the kitchen heating up the fryers and chopping up vegetables and making corn bread and biscuits. “I’m making chili today, so you wanna put that up on the board for the special?”

“Sure thing,” said Sam. “Hey, think we can have chicken salads today?”

“Yeah, I will cook up some chicken to slice up,” said the cook. He went and got the thawed breasts and seasoned them and put them on the grill to cook. Sam went to the cash register and opened it and put the start up cash in the till and grabbed his apron. Luna was tying on her apron. He watched her. She was a good woman, a steady girl. She was also a shifter. Sam never realized how important that was for him but apparently, it was. She looked up at him.

“What Sam?” she asked.

“You, you and I get along real good don’t we?” he said.

“We do, even though I have to get used to your snoring,” she said, grabbing a towel and tucking it in her apron pocket.

“I don’t snore,” said Sam.

“Yes, you do, Sam Merlotte, it’s like having a cape buffalo in the bed,” she said.

                “It’s the full moon tonight, we going to do our run?” he asked. Sam was always a little more turned on during the full moon.

                “You know it,” said Luna. “Now, quit slobbering all over me and get to work.” She said, pushing him playfully away.

                Sky brought everything up and was looking around at her office, trying to decide what to do first. “Professor Faulconer?” Sky spun around. There was young guy standing in her doorway. He smiled. “Alcide Herveaux sent me, Eric said you needed someone to help you out during the day.”

                “Oh…well, I am fine actually,” said Sky.

                “No, I am here to make sure things go okay for you today…without anybody bothering you,” he said.

                “Okay,” she said. She decided to start by simply emptying the room. She started with the desk and began to unplug the computer and taking it outside for the time being til the IT guys could take it away. The boy watched her.

                “Here, let me get this stuff out of your way so you have more room,” said the boy.

                “Are you a supe?” she asked.

                “I am a werewolf,” he said. He set the computer tower on a table and came back for the monitor. “You like teaching about them?”

                “Sure,” she said. “It will be your turn soon, there are already some text books in the works. I hope they are better than the ones written for and about vampires.”

                “You know about Professor Reynolds don’t you?” he asked.

                “I have not met too many of my colleagues,” said Sky.

                “He teaches social anthropology,” said the were. “He don’t like supes.”

                “Doesn’t he teach that introduction class about them?” asked Sky, handing him the old monitor.

                “Yeah, well he don’t like them. Once he figures out where you are in the food chain, he tends to keep your grades as low as he can and puts stumbling blocks in your way. Vamps are easy for him to spot, and they tend to transfer or drop his class, but it takes him a little bit to figure out the weres and shifters,” said the kid. Sky handed him the old printer.

                “Thanks for the heads up,” said Sky.

                “Have you heard that internet show he does?” asked the kid. “I mean, we think it’s him, V-Hate Radio.”

                “No, “she said.

                “Well it is pretty bad, they have stuff on there like God Hates Fangs and crude comments about shifters and weres,” the kid explained. “Did you know they want to register us?”

                “I read about that,” said Sky.

                “You know, I’m Native American, Cree, and granddaddy and daddy all went to war and served this country. Now they want to put us on a registry. I have read my history. It is all like in Germany, you know, before the war,” he said.

                “Yes, I know, what will you do?” she asked.

                “I ain’t registering, they’ll have to come and get me,” said the boy.

                Sky crawled all over her office, clearing up paper and trash and having a strong were to help her was a plus. He helped her dump trash and clean her windows where she could get to them, and shift her desk around and made the many trips down to get the things she needed from her car. She went through the books quickly, saving some back issues of Southern Vampire and other Vampire periodicals, making a small pile to read at home. The were helped her lay her rug and then between the two of them, they managed to unbox her computer and set it up for IT. She plugged in her power strip and checked the one left behind, it would be okay for her little lamps.

                She sat down at 10 and had a cold soda from the pop machine and got her helper one. “You know, I need an office assistant, would you like a job?”

                “Sure, that would be nice,” said the were.

                “Well I will put in for one and then submit your name,” said Sky, realizing she had not asked for his name. He held his hand out.

                “I’m Emilio Sanchez,” he said. “I’ll give you my student ID number and all that. When do you think it will start?”

                “Probably in July if I know anything about the bursar,” she said. “But I want to pay you for today.”

                “No, that’s okay, Eric Northman is paying me to be around here for a while,” he said.

                “You like working for Eric?” she asked.

                “I don’t know him real well,” he said. “But he seems okay.”

                “He does,” said Sky.

                “He must really like you, getting you a minder and all,” he said.

                “How did you get this job?” she asked.

                “I was a body guard for a rock star,” said the boy. “Kid Rock?”

                “Really?” she asked.

                “Yeah, the Kid really likes having his own kind around him,” said the boy, grinning.

                “Kid Rock is a werewolf?” she asked.

                “No, not a wolf,” he said. “Jaguar.”

                “Man, the world has changed,” she said, snickering.

                “Yes ma’am,” he said. He looked around. “It looks right nice in here. You got books to bring here?”

                “Yeah, at the apartment, hiding under my bed in boxes still,” she said. She thought about the bed and the fact it was still being occupied. She grabbed the plastic bag with the chair cover on it. “Think you can help me cover that old chair?”

                “I can give it a try,” he said. The two spent more than an hour, pulling the fabric over the little chair and then carefully tacking it and snipping away fabric around the edges that was too long. Sky tucked the fabric in the seat taught between the back of the chair and the seat. She quickly spotted three or four magazines she had read already and culled articles from and rolled one of them up and jammed it down in the crack to keep the fabric in the crack.

                “That looks right cozy,” said the were.  Sky looked at the little violet trying valiantly to resurrect. The water and being out of direct sunlight was helping a little. She picked it up. “They’s some newspapers out in the vestibule, if you want to repot it though I think it is done for.”

                “Grab the newspapers, we’ll give it a chance,” said Sky. The were watched her as she unpotted the plant carefully with a plastic spoon from the wastebasket. She slid the little plant into the new soil and patted soil around it and watered it from a bottle of water and slid a plant food stake into the soil and set it aside, under her desk lamp. It looked no better.

                “Well, if it survives, it will be a miracle out of scripture,” said the kid.

                “We shall see,” she said.

                Sookie drove to the doctor’s office as Sky was leaving for the day, going home to the apartment where the enigmatic vampire sheriff of Area Five slept just like the dead. Sookie had dropped Preston off at his little house, a tiny shot gun structure and then headed with Amelia to Dr. Ludwig’s office. Sookie checked in with the receptionist and took the chart back to the seat to mark down all her illnesses and her allergies, which was not much because she had only the run of the mill childhood ailments, the occasional bout of flu and one time she had pneumonia. In her adult life she had been healthy as a horse, and then with vitamin supplements from vampires, she had never been ill. Hurt yes, but not ill.  She marked everything down and signed it and brought it back to the receptionist. “Do you have insurance?” she asked.

                “No, I will pay cash,” she said. In all her working class life, she had never had health insurance, she had paid for every doctor’s visit and hospital stay herself. This made her mad sometimes because there were a lot of times she had been injured in the service of vampires. Their attitude was have a sip of vamp blood, but Sookie only had blood from Eric or Bill willingly.  They never offered to pay a hospital bill. She sighed at that a bit.

                Amelia and she chatted as they waited for Sookie to be called.