Sunlight poured through the window in glorious amounts, and Bill Compton sat on the edge of his four poster bed, watching the dust sparkle like gold as it bathed in its glow.
"I am awake…" he told the dust uncertainly, in his truly southern gentleman's accent.
It was surreal, unbelievable to him. He held his hand outstretched towards the illuminated particles, letting the light dapple at his fingers.
When he walked slowly downstairs, his body felt heavier than normal. He felt the weight from each individual limb.
The radiance beamed through the front door as well, leaving coloured speckles of sunshine along his wooden floorboards as it filtered through the parts of stained glass.
Bill descended the last step, and faced the front door. His heart was racing, beating against his chest in his fearful anxiety. There was another thing.
"I am breathing?" he asked the thin air, experimenting with inhaling and exhaling.
Have I woken up from an incredibly long dream, he wondered, I shall find out…
He bravely swung the door open, and with a human clumsiness he'd forgotten, stumbled down the stairs of his front porch; dazzled by the Louisiana sunshine.
Bill's skin was luminescent in the light, but not burning, no pain. His skin was warmed, and his hair ruffling in the morning breeze.
"This is madness," he announced to the open lawn in front of him. "Sookie…" he suddenly remembered.
He had to run across the cemetery at a frustratingly human pace, and his legs having the strange weight to them. He physically had to pick them up and put in front of another. He had no lightness and unthinking grace in his footsteps.
He passed through the last tunnel of trees, and grass stretched out uninterrupted in front of him once more, until it reached the humble house in front of him. It was a ramshackle house, parts old and parts new, but it was quaint. Also, Bill's heart felt at home here. He was draw to this house, and its beautiful occupant.
The woman in question was in the garden. Sookie Stackhouse's blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, a couple of strands escaped and fluttering round her face in the breeze. She wore a pink floral blouse, the sleeves pulled up, and denim shorts that let her legs soak up the sunshine as she worked. Sookie was bent over a flower bed; trowel in hand, the other supporting her as she gardened. She was humming along to the radio, but when she heard Bill's heavy footsteps; she rose and turned and beamed ear to ear.
"Mr Compton? Now aren't we up early?" she teased, blowing a lock of golden hair from her face.
"You know me?" he asked unsurely.
Sookie looked confused, swaying towards him and abandoning her trowel.
"Of course I know you silly," she laughed, wrapping her arms round his neck when she reached him. Bill sighed in relief, and wound his round her waist, bending down to kiss her. Sookie's kiss was full of warmth, and passion, just like it had always been. However, he could no longer taste the sunshine on her skin though, nor smell it. She smelt of her lavender soap and perfume, no more. He couldn't smell the traces of the day on her, or his scent that reassuringly clung to her reminding him that she was his, and neither could he smell the blood pumping under her skin that got him so excited.
Her kiss though, was unchanging, and he hungrily returned it.
"I am alive…" he repeated, when they ceased for the moment.
"Yes…you are…" Sookie laughed, nodding slowly and looking bewildered.
"You still love me?"
"Yes, I do. What's with the strange life affirming questions?"
Bill ignore her, but gazed of into the distance. He was undoubtedly living and breathing in the light of day. He was, for this strange surreal moment in time, human. Though the way Sookie was reacting to him…you'd think he'd always been real like this…
"What else would you be?" Sookie chuckled, putting her hands on her hips and looking at him curiously.
"You…you read my thoughts?"
"I am telepathic; it's generally what I do. What's wrong with you?"
"Then why do you love me?" Bill mumbled, asking himself more than Sookie. "You we're drawn to the peace of mind around me, you loved not hearing my thoughts, why are you with me if you can hear them?"
Sookie looked thoroughly spooked; she stared at him as if he was a stranger.
"I can read everyone's thoughts, there are no exceptions. If I let it stop me loving someone I'd be alone forever…of course it would be nice to not hear another voice in my head twenty four, seven."
Thoughts spiralled around Bill's head a mile a minute. In his mind, he hadn't experienced the day, or breathing for almost two centuries. This life was totally alien to him; Sookie in the daytime was something he never imagined in his wildest dreams. He belonged to the night. It was because he belonged to the night that he was alive today.
"Then, where is Caroline?" he whispered to the breeze. Sookie took a step back and let her hands slump to her side.
"Pardon?"
"And Sarah, or Thomas…" he continued, his breathing growing unsteady as he clenched his fists. "Where is my family?"
Colours swirled into one, a merge of light and dark continuous as night and day. Then Sookie's eyelids fluttered open. The room was dim, lit singularly by a small bedside lamp. She was curled round, arched across her bed. The other side was empty, and the sheets had been smoothed down.
Sitting up abruptly, she saw Bill across the room. He was gazing out the window, evidentially lost in thought. When Sookie moved, he turned to smile at her gently.
The sight of him there in the moonlight caught Sookie off guard after her lucid dreams. Her heart skipped a beat, and she almost had to bite back tears for joy of seeing her silent minded pale lover stood near her. She wondered for a moment if her telepathy had allowed her dreams to be influenced by Bill's thoughts, then shook the idea from her mind. It's just your overactive imagination Sookie Stackhouse, she mentally told herself, that would be silly…right?
Bill smiled broader, and moved to sit beside her.
"It is almost dawn," he crooned, running his fingers through her bed hair.
"I know."
"I must leave you."
"I understand," Sookie sighed, unable to hold back a smile.
"Happy?"
"Not that you're leaving. Happy you're here, right now."
"I am happy I am here also, happy I got to live to this day to see your smile," he added mysteriously.
He ran his fingers across her cheekbone, his eyes full of love and adoration.
"I am happy you are a vampire," Sookie admitted, taking his hand in hers and enveloping it in her human warmth.
Bill leaned in close, hovering his lips close to hers for a moment, and then kissed her deeply. Her kiss full of love and passion. Her skin smelling sweet in so many different ways.
"So am I," he replied resolutely, between kisses.