Chapter 1 The Beginning

"Death can't find you if you choose to hide in the realm of living life. Because Death is like the monster that hides in the dark and ceases to exist once you step into the light."-by Me

It was too late. Death had found me. But I guess it always had. I suppose it was inevitable.

As I stood there in the cool night air and felt the wind blow my hair around my face, I thought about the events that had led me here to this point in time. I never once expected things to change the way they had. But then again, I didn't expect a lot of things to happen. They just did. It's just what was. It was the direction my life had taken and I was powerless to stop it. I had to take things as they came at me. It's what I was taught to do. And it's what I was going to do. I was always the more practical one in the family. At least, that's how my cousin saw it. And she was hardly ever wrong.

Sookie. My blond hair, blue eyed cousin who was more like my sister then just another relative. We were bonded together by more then just our tragic childhoods. Although that played a part in bringing us closer to each other. When her parents died, my parents who had been the closest to them, hadn't been able to deal with their grief. And 8 months after the flood that had claimed the lives of my aunt and uncle, my parents took their own lives and ended their sadness in a bloody, downward spiral. Leaving me to the care of my grandmother, and the company of my cousins Sookie and Jason. And that's how Sookie and I grew to be the best of friends and became connected to one another for life. But as I said before, we were bonded by more then just family tragedy. In fact,we were bonded by the very thing that made us different from everyone else around us. The fact that we could hear the thoughts and memories of the people around us.

We never really discussed it much as we grew up and went through adolescence and adulthood. It was just something that was a part of each of us and that's how we saw it. It was never unnatural between her and I and we never thought it was a scary thing. To the outside world, Sookie and I were freaks and a lot of people looked at us as if they were terrified and they probably were. Our fellow residents of small town of Bon Temps had never really seen much that was out of the ordinary from their everyday lives. At least not until it was known about our ability. And it wasn't until years after that, that things got turned upside down and our friends and neighbors had more to worry about then just two telepathic young women.

It seemed like ever since Vampires had made their presence known, supernatural creatures had been coming out of the woodwork like termites. Vampires, werewolves and shifters all seemed to have a claim in this world. And it seemed like reality just wasn't in the cards anymore. Anything seemed possible and in certain situations, that wasn't a good thing. And there had been plenty of bad over the past few years. Murders sprung up a lot more in recent memory then in the past, including the death of my grandmother and the emergence of long held secrets about the people around me. For instance, the background about Sookie and I's boss Sam Merlotte. No one else knew about him being a shifter besides me and her and he preferred to keep it that way. He didn't want anyone else in town to know the truth since he cared too much about what people thought, despite the fact that he denied it. Sookie, on the other hand, was the complete opposite when it came to her relationship with Bill Compton. She never tried to hide the fact that she was in love with a vampire and instead put it right out there in the open for the people of our town to comment on and comment they did. She was constantly being told how stupid and naïve she was being for getting involved with a vampire that could possibly kill her. And despite all the insults that were thrown her way, Sookie took it in stride and ignored it all. She had complete trust in Bill and never doubted that she was safe when she was with him. And after spending time with him myself, I felt the same way. It was good to see my cousin so sure of her relationship, even if it was with a vampire. I had never really known that kind of faith before.

At least not until I met "him".

After seeing all the death and destruction going on around me from vampires and werewolves, I was quite ready for life to go back to normal. But I quickly discovered that normal living wasn't an option for me and the past year proved just that. It was another thing I had to get used to. And there were times I wished that I could be like everyone else. But eventually I had to embrace my destiny and the idea that I just wasn't like the people around me. And I wasn't meant to live like others. Some people were meant to live ordinary lives and never get involved in supernatural forces. I, however was meant to encounter death, in it's most seductive form.

And that's how it led me here to this night, where the sky was pitch black and the stars were no where to be seen. The air was cool and the breeze was refreshing when it blew across my body and rippled my clothes and hair. I sighed and stared at the trees surrounding me, feeling the exhaustion catch up with me from the chaos the last few weeks had brought. I just wanted to fall asleep and not wake up until all this was over and done with. But the truth was that it would never be over. Not entirely. And that was a reality that I had to accept whether I was ready to or not.

"This is one of the times I wish I possessed your ability to read minds." A husky voice spoke from behind me. I didn't even have to turn around to know it was him, I just felt his presence and knew who it was. And it was a relief to know he was still there with me. I felt a coolness spread over the skin of my hand and looked down to see that he had twisted his long, nimble fingers around my own, locking our hands together. I then looked up at him and felt myself relax under his gaze.

"It wouldn't matter if you could. You have no power over me." I reminded him and there was the tiniest hints of a smile on the face of the ever confident Eric Northman.

"That may be true, but it doesn't stop me from wishing it were a possibility." He responded, a far away look in his eyes. He turned his head to look around at the woods surrounding us and he too sighed. "These last few weeks have brought a lot of chaos."

"Yea, they certainly have." I agreed quietly, feeling a heaviness settle over me at the thought of all that had happened. He had to have felt that because I felt his cold hand squeeze mine slightly. I returned my focus to his face and asked, "Will things ever be ok?"

"No. They won't. Things will always be tough." He told me simply, in the no nonsense way that he always talked in. He then looked down at me from his great height and reached his other hand up to brush my hair back over my shoulder so my neck was exposed. He stroked the skin that covered the main vein that ran through my neck and his fingers touched on the scars that were not made by him. His eyes then met mine and he smirked as if it were no big thing. "Look at it this way. It's only life."

"Only life." I repeated, not knowing if I believed those words but it was obvious that Eric did. And maybe one day, I would believe it too.

a/n: so i know i should be writting another fic...but after watching true blood last night, i had so much inspiration that i had to move forward with it...hope everyone likes it

And just to clarify...this is a story about Eric and a new character...