For many months now I've been watching them from across the fence and I just could not help myself. I had to sneak in when CH was not at home and play make believe with her characters. That reminds me, all characters (with the exception of a few) contained within are property of Charlaine Harris. I promise I will put them back where I found them when I'm done playing. Please don't call the authorities Ms. Harris, I couldn't help myself...
****************************************************************
His hand moved torturously slow up my left leg while his right hand deftly unbuttoned my blouse, exposing my flushed skin to gentle lips as they followed the path of his fingers. "Yes, yes," I breathed.
His lips so soft, so tender, close to my ear, "Do you like that?" He whispered tickling the sensitive hair receptors in my ear canal causing my whole body to shudder of its own volition.
Writhing under the ministrations of his skilled hands and lips I barely formed another 'yes'. Oh this is good. I didn't want him to stop.
"Are you ready?" he whispered again. If wars could be fought with lovemaking, he can conquer all with just a whisper.
"Ohhh, mmmm… ahhh," was my weak response as my head lolled back as if I had lost all function of my neck muscles.
Magically I noticed my clothes have disappeared, to where I don't know and I really don't care. I cared only about the hands which were now right where I wanted them to be. I felt his lips nibbling while his tongue traced a trail of liquid fire from my right clavicle down to the deep cleft of my chest. Oh I was ready. My body was ready for the onslaught which promised to follow. The anticipation was almost too much for me. I felt lightheaded, dizzy, almost to the point of fainting.
His strong hand cupped my face and then I felt fingers gently tip my chin upwards. His smooth voice resonate the command from somewhere deep within his chest, "Sookie." Oh I felt that vibrate throughout my body.
"Open your eyes and look at me." I could die right now and be the happiest woman on earth.
It was quite an effort to open my passion-laden eye lids but I tried to comply with the softly spoken command. My eyes fluttered open to look into his face as requested. His deep green eyes matched the strong hypnotic voice.
I gasped…
"Alcide? What the f…"
In shock, I quickly closed my eyes and shook my head in disbelief. My libido was instantly replaced by confusion and anger. I wanted to scream in frustration.
What in the world was Alcide doing in my bed? Why was he making oh so sweet lo… Whoa Girl! Hold the phone and apply the breaks for a sec! What am I thinking? Did I almost allow myself to wantonly make passionate love with Alcide? For a split second I tried to rationalize my feelings. Am I angry because I responded to Alcide? If I did what does that make me?
With my eyes still tightly shut I tried to cast around for the sheet to cover my nakedness. 'D'oh! '
I tried to exert some authority into my voice but failed miserably, "Alcide…", I rasped.
"What did you call me?" A deeper timbered voice caught my attention. That voice is unmistakable. Holy Crap Batman! I believe I hear… no… it can't be… My eyes flew open to look into two beautiful purple colored eyes.
"Oh my God, Quinn?" I squawked. This is getting way weird. I struggled to get out of my bed.
Bewilderment and concern registered on his handsome face, "Babe? What's wrong?" Quinn asked.
I had to look away because even though I couldn't see all of him I knew he was naked from head to toe and I have to say that I was not immune to the way his biceps rippled as he gracefully rolled to the side to allow me to sit up. But I couldn't move.
I tried my best to scoot out of bed but to no avail I was unsuccessful. It was as if my body refused to move. So I tried another tactic to remove my ex-boyfriend out of my bed. I determinedly turned my head to tell him what happened to tigers who wandered into my bedroom uninvited.
"Look Quinn. I don't know what you think you're doing but… Oh shit… Bill?" I shrieked. My body still would not cooperate as I stared at my other ex-boyfriend wondering if I'm stuck in a sick twist of Charles Dickens' version of Supe Boyfriends Past, Present and Future.
"No, no, no. This is not happening to me," as I desperately tried willing my numb body to move, but still failing to get it to work. I tried thrashing my head hoping my brain would send the message to the rest of my body that I wanted it to move.
Ever the Southern gentleman Bill's silken voice asked, "Sweetheart? What's wrong?" The unmistakable look of arousal was evident in those big beautiful sultry eyes boring right into my soul. I felt a twinge of shame, sadness and grief at the loss I felt whenever I thought of our history together.
I mentally pinched myself so I wouldn't fall victim to those eyes, those strong arms, those skilled hands… I have to stand my ground. Something is definitely not right. I turned my head to look away before those eyes drowned me in my emotions. Anyway, my head was the only thing working at the moment. Gah! What's wrong with me?
Am I having a panic attack? I don't usually give into hysterics or panic attacks. I may have some Southern Belle qualities like fainting but that is usually a result of an exceptionally stressful event like say, someone clobbering me over the head?
I am made of sturdier stuff. I'm a Stackhouse dammit! Shepherd of Judea, I have killed people and not even think twice of it. Well ok. My life was threatened. It was more like kill or be killed.
Now all I need is Eric and this cozy gathering will be complete.
"Lover"…
Yep. Spoke too soon didn't I? Oh well, resignation creeping in on my near hysteria, look at it on the bright side, I reasoned, Eric makes a complete set of ex-boyfriends unless you want to throw in the fairy my great grandfather gifted to me for Christmas. Maybe then I'll be able to rest easily.
I slowly turned my head to the door to see a pair of expensive red leather Pradas. My gaze followed two very long jean clad legs. Up, up, up to an unbuttoned red silk shirt still tucked into the waist secured by a belt with a rather large ornate buckle. I glimpsed a nice healthy sprinkling of exposed blonde hair above the buckle.
"Like what you see Lover?" What a beautiful sound, can one say that about a voice?
My gaze continued up till I located the mouth where the sound came from. And what a mouth it is. Beautiful sensuous lips, if one could say that about a man's lips, at this moment one side was curved into a leer that somehow on this mouth I did not mind studying up close.
My brain registered his name before my mouth could form his name, "Eric" I barely managed to get out of my suddenly dry mouth.
His eyes are twin blue fathomless sparkling pools. Mirth and passion lurks just beneath the surface of those startlingly azure eyes ready to burst through and overwhelm everything and everyone in its wake. I fixed my eyes on his face like a woman starved. I believe the kids call it nowadays a total eye-fuck. If anyone can pull that off, he was standing before me.
"Sookie! Sookie!" Amelia's voice came from far away.
Eric's face suddenly morphed into Amelia's face. Awww Man! I cursed into my pillow.
"Sookie wake up." I could feel a hand on my shoulder shaking me awake.
"Damnit Sookie! You need to take this call. Wake up girl." Amelia is nothing if not insistent.
"Amelia can't you just take a message?" I grumped.
"No Sookie! When the clock struck midnight the coach turned back into a pumpkin, the footmen turned back into mice and I turned from your secretary to just regular 'ol room mate", Amelia shot back.
"Ughh! Try 'regular witchy roommate'", I groaned into my pillow hoping Amelia didn't hear all the muffled sounds of my complaint.
The clock on my nightstand registered the time at just after twelve thirty in the morning. I had worked the earlier shift at Merlotte's and decided to turn in early for the night. I stayed up the night before to finish up my murder mystery so I can turn it into the library in the morning. I worked the night before that. To say I was sleep deprived was an understatement.
"You really need to take this." The tone in Amelia's voice was like a shot of adrenaline. Instantly awake, I sat up and took the cordless phone from her outstretched hand.
Before handing me the phone she narrowed her eyes at me and hissed, "I heard that Stackhouse."
"Hello?" I croaked
"Is this Sookie Stackhouse?" the slightly nasal voice of a woman asked.
Now fully alert, I answered, "Yes, speaking."
"My name is Vivienne LaBeau. I am Remy Savoy's neighbor." The woman continued.
Oh no! Something has happened. Remy was my Cousin Hadley's ex-husband. They had a son named Hunter whom I just met. My hands began to shake as I thought of my little nephew Hunter. I could feel tears fill my eyes as I tried to steady my breathing and brace myself for the worst possible news of Remy and Hunter. I have lost most of my family including my cousin Hadley. Even though I just met Remy and Hunter, the thought that I still had some family left gave me comfort. I instantly regret putting off my visit to see them when Remy called me about a month ago.
I focused on the voice on the phone, "Look. Something has happened to Remy. He's in jail and his son will be placed in a foster home if none of his kin comes forward to take him in."
A million questions immediately flashed across my mind, "what? What happened to Remy? Is he alright?"
Vivienne staunched my flow of questions by quickly saying, "Before the police took him away he made me promise to call you and insist on speaking to you in person about taking Hunter in as a temporary foster mom."
My head was spinning. What could have possibly caused the police to take Remy? I don't remember 'hearing' anything remotely sinister in him. He seemed like such a doting father. A doting father would not do anything to jeopardize his relationship with his son. My cousin Hadley left home so long ago and got into the drug scene. She met and married Remy but divorced soon after having their son Hunter. Hadley was turned into a vampire by her lover Sophie Vampire Queen of Louisiana. Tragically, Hadley was killed and I was only notified by her lover's probate lawyer about a month later. Remy had no idea who I was, until I showed up at their doorstep about a year ago.
"Hello? Miss Stackhouse? Are you still there?" Vivienne sounded a bit impatient and concerned maybe a bit of the latter.
"Er, umm, Yes. I'm still here." I mentally shook myself, "Where is Hunter now Mrs. LeBeau?"
"I was able to convince the CPS officers to allow me to look after Hunter until I can get a hold of you. After all, he is in familiar surroundings and my girls adore Hunter."
"Miss Stackhouse, would you mind very much if you pick Hunter up tonight? I know that it's very late but I can't miss work and my girls have to go to school in the morning."
I was appalled by my lack of foresight as to the underlying purpose of Vivienne LaBeau's late call. She could have waited until daylight to place the call (it seemed she attempted to make contact with me several times throughout the evening as evidenced by 6 messages on the answering machine).
"Oh my god I'm so sorry for the inconvenience Mrs. LaBeau", I replied awkwardly, "Of course, I'll be right over to pick him up. I know how to get there, so I just need to know which house is yours."
"Please call me Vivienne. And here is my address…"
Amelia was kind enough to offer to drive me to collect Hunter. I didn't care if half of the reason she offered was due to curiosity, I was just grateful to have someone to go with, someone who's had more sleep than I.
Vivienne LaBeau was waiting for us. As soon as Amelia pulled into her driveway the front door opened, as if she was on the lookout for our car. She reminded me of Annie Potts' character on Designing Women – Mary Jo. I gathered from her head that she was a single mother of three girls. She was worried about the latest string of strange happenings in the neighborhood and that included Remy being charged with child endangerment and neglect. She had no doubt in her mind that Remy was a good father to his son, but the last two women he's dated were worrisome to say the least.
I tried my best to be polite by asking only the necessary questions, first out of consideration for Vivienne and the late hour she's had to stay up to wait for us and secondly, out of consideration for my friend Amelia who is driving me around.
Under normal circumstances, Vivienne may have been a gracious hostess or even friendly. But something about her demeanor despite her tiredness and the early morning hour didn't settle right with me. I reasoned that because this was not a normal circumstance I could justify dropping my shields and listen in on Vivienne. So I gave her my automatic 'Sookie Smile' while trying to sort through her thoughts.
She gave me the phone numbers of the CPS officer and the Social Worker in charge of Hunter's case. Remy had entrusted Vivienne with a thick manila envelope full of necessary legal documents like Hunter's birth certificate, social security number and several others I didn't have a chance to peruse.
Hunter was asleep on the couch in the living room. His features have changed a little bit since the last time I saw him and his father. His features were still making that transition from cute chubby toddler to little boy. He was clutching a blue blanket to his cheek that appeared to have seen better days. I scooped him up but he stirred irritably and whimpered like he had cried himself to sleep. Awkwardly I adjusted my arms to secure him to me; this caused him to clutch his blanket a little tighter. He snuggled up to me and buried his head into my chest. As I watched him, a sharp twinge of longing shot through me at the sight of his curly head, his cherubic face and long blonde-tipped lashes. Instinctively I made cooing noises to comfort him. Where did that come from? It felt strange, yet familiar.
I sighed inwardly, as I wondered for the millionth time what type of mother I would make if and when I stopped dating vampires. It seems all is at a standstill as far as my questions of motherhood are concerned. Vampires cannot father or give birth to offspring. On the other hand I can't date human men because I get a preview of their thoughts whether they voice them or not. The potential mates who could provide me with said offspring seem to hit an invisible Sookie Stumbling block that keeps them at bay or sends them packing out of my life. I'm a supe magnet, not to mention where ever I am amongst the supernatural community, something strange or catastrophic always happens. I'm like that little old lady who writes murder mysteries. Where ever she goes someone is sure to die. My train of thought was beginning to depress me as I gaze longingly at the sleeping child in my arms. I mentally chided myself and started out the door.
Amelia was placing Hunter's suitcase in the trunk when Vivienne brought out another bag which held an assortment of stuffed animals. I gave her a quizzical look. She automatically listed all of Hunter's favorite toys he can't do without.
"Oh. I almost forgot!" Vivienne exclaimed, as she sprinted back into the house and came back with a ridiculously oversized stuffed yellow Bengal Tiger in her arms.
The sight of the plush toy caused something to stir within me. I can't for the life of me put a name to that feeling. My tired brain will have to rest for now and analyze later.
"It's a good thing I started to list his favorite toys. This shares the number one spot with the blanket. Only reason he didn't have it with him was because I had to give him a choice between the plush toy or his blanket when we went out to dinner tonight."
Approximately two and a half hours after Vivienne's surprising phone call, Amelia and I had secured my new charge, Hunter in his car seat and were making our way back to Bon Temps.
Almost immediately after pulling away from the LaBeau residence Amelia began to shoot expectant looks at me. When that didn't work, she started her mental campaign. Being the loud broadcaster she is I just couldn't avoid her, due to my fatigue.
I could hear her in my head saying, 'what gives Sookie? You can't get away with it. You read her mind, I recognized the Sookie Smile.'
"All right Amelia", I groaned wearily, "I hear you. Just give me a few minutes to process this then I'll tell you what I heard."
After a couple more dramatic sighs and finger drumming on the steering wheel, Amelia has to get her way; I said quietly, "She's afraid of someone or something Amelia".
Amelia didn't dare interrupt me but patiently waited as she drove.
"She lied about having to work in the morning. She could've waited to call me after I woke up today but she didn't because she's afraid of having Hunter over at the house for too long."
"She loves Hunter but thinks there's something that's not right with him and all the strange little incidents in their neighborhood lately somehow revolves around Remy and Hunter."
Amelia stared ahead, thoughtfully, "what kind of strange happenings?"
I closed my tired eyes and repeated what I saw in Vivienne's head. It wasn't clear but there were flashes of Hunter playing in their fenced in yard with his toy trucks while his father and girlfriend where doing some gardening. Then the next thought I glimpsed in Vivienne's head was Hunter in the middle of the street chasing after a brightly colored ball and a black SUV with dark tinted windows speeding towards him. Then all went black. I think it was too much for Vivienne to watch a child get run over by a car that she must have fainted.
"So the kid was chasing after his ball and almost got hit by a motorist", reasoned Amelia.
I shook my head, "No. Vivienne knows for a fact that Hunter doesn't have a brightly colored ball and neither do any of her children."
I proceeded to explain to Amelia that Vivienne believed that Hunter was in some kind of danger. She babysits Hunter a lot. She knows the toys he has because whenever he gets a new toy she is one of the first people Hunter shows them to. That's why she was able to list and pack all the toys in that big shopping bag in the trunk. Remy didn't pack that, Vivienne did. She knows that ball was to lure him into the street.
I spied Amelia looking at Hunter through the rearview mirror, "Who would want to hurt such an innocent child Sookie?"
"I don't know but Vivienne suspects that it has something to do with Remy being in jail and Hunter being taken away by Child Protective Services."
I noticed that we had just crossed into the town limits of Bon Temps. I started to relax at the thought of my warm bed and maybe even getting back to finish my weird dream I was going through before Amelia rudely woke me up. My eyes fluttered closed for what seemed like seconds.
THUNK! THUNK!
My eyes immediately popped open at the loud sound. But couldn't see what made that awful sound and I couldn't see too far out in the dark road.
"Oh SHIT", yelled Amelia. Then I could feel my body pitch forward as the car swerved to the left then fishtail and skidded off the road directly into the path of a very large pine tree with my side of the car aiming right for its thick trunk.
*************************************************************
Ok people! Closing my eyes and wincing... Let 'er rip! I look forward to hearing from you. When all else fails, don't forget it's only f-i-c-t-i-o-n :-) No witches, telepaths, vampires, weres , shifters or fairies were harmed in the writing of this story... at least that I know of.