Hey guys. I have had this story floating around in my mind for awhile now, and it has been bothering me to get written! I need a change of pace so to speak, instead of writing Dead Set the entire time. I want to assure my lovely readers that I am NOT abandoning Dead Set or the companion pieces to it and I will be updating them as well soon enough. I just needed to kind of break off and start my own version of a Sookie Stackhouse story from scratch.

My father was a cop for over forty years, he was an MP in the military, and then joined the Sheriff's department in my hometown of Colorado Springs, CO. He was on S.W.A.T and a Detective in the Sex Crimes unit, and after many engaging stories with my father, I wanted to make a criminal/romance/adventure type story for our favorite heroine and Vampire. I know many of you will say that you have the criminal already picked out, but don't count the chickens yet before they hatch. I'm gonna throw some surprises at you. This first chapter is more of an introduction and set in the third person, but in the second chapter it will go to Sookie's POV and I will also be switching it up and going into Eric's POV once he enters my story. I hope you all enjoy. :P A thousand thanks to my lovely Beta 2Tcup-Humans who stayed up late to beta for me so I could post this as soon as possible. You are amazing!

Dig

"Lieutenant, there's a Sheriff Dearborn on line one for you."

Lieutenant Jonathan Whitley looked up from the paperwork spread out before him and glanced at the telephone as his secretary's voice filled his office. Leaning over, he pushed the intercom button. "Thanks, Sheryl." Picking up the phone he pressed the blinking line and answered, the authority clear in his deep voice. "This is Lieutenant Whitley."

"Hey there, this is Sheriff Bud Dearborn from Renard Parish. Am I speakin' with the fella in charge?" The voice belonged to an older gentleman, and his southern accent was very prominent.

"Yes, you are speaking with the man in charge of the homicide branch of the Shreveport Police Department. How can I help you, Sheriff?"

"Well, I have a death on my hands. And it's not of the normal variety, if you get my meanin'. My department patrols Bon Temps and the surroundin' areas here in Renard Parish, and we deal with the typical stuff, but not murder. And this one in particular is pretty bad. I hate to admit this, but we are not equipped to handle this kind of crime. I was callin' to ask if there was any chance that you could send one of your detectives out to investigate this murder with us?" Whitley could hear the silent plea from the man on the other end.

Reaching over and grabbing his notepad, Whitley poised his pen over the paper. "Why don't you give me the information and I'll see what I can do for you, Sheriff."

Ten minutes later, the Lieutenant hung up with Sheriff Dearborn and hit the button on his intercom. "Sheryl, send Stackhouse and Herveaux in here."

A knock came at the door a few minutes later. "Come in." Whitley called out, leaning back in his chair.

A man and a woman entered the office, both sitting down in the chairs in front of the Lieutenant's desk. The woman smiled brightly, "Morning, Lieutenant."

Whitley gave her a smile, secretly wishing he was thirty years younger. Sookie Stackhouse was not only a drop, dead gorgeous blonde, but she was also his star detective, having joined homicide two years ago after taking the detectives exam while she was still on patrol. She was the youngest investigator on the Shreveport Police Department and was probably the brightest they had. She never left a case unsolved and always got the suspect in the end. People underestimated her, only seeing the outside package first. But Sookie had a way about her; a way of talking that actually had a few of the accused pissing themselves in the interrogation room. This was just the case for her and Herveaux.

"Good Morning, Stackhouse, Herveaux. I have a murder for you," Whitley replied, pulling his notes close.

"What are the details, Boss?" Herveaux asked, pulling his own notepad from his suit pocket. Alcide Herveaux was a large man, with a mop of unruly, black hair and green eyes. When Whitley had paired him with Sookie, little did he know that the two would surpass all of his expectations with their professional dedication to the job and their arrest record. He had at first thought that Alcide would be resentful of having to work with a woman, especially since there were not that many working as detectives in the Shreveport Police Department. But the two had gotten along wonderfully, falling into a rhythm of playing good cop/bad cop, and it worked for them.

Whitley looked at Sookie. "You grew up in Bon Temps, right?" Sookie nodded her head, her eyes wide. "I just got a phone call from Sheriff Dearborn. Seems that a murder took place in the middle of the night, they just found the body. The victim's name is Maudette Pickens."

Sookie gasped. "Oh my goodness. I went to High School with her."

"Did you know her well?" The Lieutenant asked.

Sookie shrugged. "Not really. Small High School, so everyone knew each other. But we weren't friends or anything. I just knew of her. What happened?"

"Maudette was found dead this morning in her apartment. She worked at the Grabit Kwik and her boss became concerned when she didn't show up for work yesterday or this morning, so he rode over to her place and asked the manager of the apartments to check to see if she was okay. The deceased was found naked in her bed, strangled and with Vampire bite marks on her inner thigh. I need you guys to go into this hard, especially if a Vampire is responsible for this. As you both know Vampire crimes have been on the rise since they came out two years ago, and if that is the case, I will have Rasul assist you so he can guide you through this carefully."

"Has the Sheriff's Department moved the body, yet?" Sookie asked as she stood, anxious to get going.

"No, the coroner is there but they will wait so you can see the crime scene for yourself. I want you to bring Diego with you. Have him run the usual Forensics tests. I expect an update by the end of the day," the Lieutenant instructed, tossing his pad back onto the desk.

Alcide stood as well. "You got it boss." He turned, buttoning his suit jacket as he opened the door. Sookie followed after him, smoothing a hand over the intricate twist that her blonde hair was styled up in.

"And Sookie?" Whitley called out after her just as she was about to close the door.

She stuck her head back into the office. "Yeah, Boss?"

"Be careful."

She smiled sweetly and then drawled, "Always."

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