A/N
A few notes before we start. This will be some true blood and some of the book because they both have great parts. Also only the first X-man movie happened as well X-Men First Class because it nicely explains how mutants came into the public's eye. I have not decided on pairings though you can request them if you feel the need. That does not mean I will write them, please refrain from attempting to bullying me into writing a story that goes exactly like you want it to go. If you have opinions on every little thing then please feel free to write your own story. That being said, I do hope you enjoy mine.
Also I forfeit any claim in any type of ownership to anything here.
Marie stepped off the bus into the sweltering heat of Shreveport, Louisiana. As much as she missed the south, she really could do without the humidity considering she had to stay so covered up. She walked with the rest of the passengers into the small greyhound building to pick up a map of the area. In all her travels over the past ten years, she had never been to Louisiana. She had avoided this state and Mississippi after she had run away and most of the south in general.
Walking out of the building, she looked up to see a man in a suit holding up a sign. Anna-Marie Darkholme. She hadn't used that name since she was twelve. Uncertainly she walked over to the man, glancing around just in case this was some kind of elaborate trap. When no one sprang from behind a bush she relaxed, a little bit.
"Ms. Darkholme." The man said with a professional air and nod and before she could respond in any sort of fashion, he was shoving a pair of keys and a folded piece of paper into her hands. And then he was off.
Marie blinked and looked down to the paper that had been handed to her. She unfolded it and discovered it was directions to a motel in Bon Temps. It seemed that Irene had planned every little last detail out before her death.
Marie found the little blue Honda in the parking lot and tossed her army green duffel bag in the back seat. She gave the directions a look over and pulled out on to the road. She couldn't shake the feeling that this little adventure was building up to something she really just didn't want to get involved in. It's how all of her adventures turned out. She had the same feeling when she jumped in the back of a trailer in Canada seven years ago.
It only took about thirty minutes to reach the tiny town of Bon Temps and truthfully there wasn't a lot to see. Even Caddelcott hadn't been this small. After only getting turned around once she finally found the dinky little motel and parked next to the front office. The inside wasn't much better than the outside. A greasy old man sat behind the desk reading Jugs, one of the classier magazines.
He looked up when she walked in and his eyes lingered on her breasts and then the white stripe in her hair. "What can I get for you pretty lady?" she said with a slimy smile that showed he was missing several yellow teeth.
"I need a room." She said trying not to look at the dip wadded up in his lip.
He looked down at his desk that was just out of her sight and produced a key and a clipboard. "Just sign here." He said, handing her a key. She scribbled her name down, grabbed the key and left, feeling the grease ball's eyes on her ass the whole way out.
She grabbed her bag and walked to room number two. The room was nothing to write home about, but it was cleaner than some places she had been so she really had no complaints. She dropped her bag on to the bed and made a bee line for the shower. Nothing would be better than a nice cold shower in this heat and then she could fall into the bed and sleep till morning when she would decide what to do next.
XxX
The next morning found Marie dressed and sitting on the bed staring at the letter Irene had wrote to her. The letter had contained many things from small apologies and confessions to an inheritance and a request. The inheritance had been very surprising; apparently Irene had liquidated all her assets and given every last dime to Marie. She had never known that her aunt had had so much money. The request was even weirder as Irene had asked her to visit a woman by the name of Adele Stackhouse in the small town of Bon Temps. The letter didn't say why, it just asked her to do it and who was she to deny a woman her last wish.
With a sigh she located the directions to the woman's house that had been folded up with the letter and left the motel.
It was about a ten minute drive to house from the dinky little motel with not a lot in between. The driveway was about a third of the whole drive, apparently someone valued their privacy. When she finally caught sight of the house she couldn't help but thinking how cute it was and how it would be a nice house to settle down into. Secretly and selfishly she hoped that she was meeting this Stackhouse woman to buy her house. That would be like Irene to make sure she had every last thing she needed.
But that idea was shot down when she saw a blonde about her age sun bathing in the yard. She climbed out of her car and walked up to the house deciding to avoid the blond woman, it was best if she stayed around people with more clothes on.
She waited a moment and listened while the person on the other side of the door moved around. The next moment the door opened to reveal an older woman with shoulder length grey hair. She looked thoroughly shocked to see Marie standing there. "Sookie?" she asked uncertainly.
Was Sookie supposed to be a name?
"Anna-Marie Darkholme." She corrected. "I'm looking for Adele Stackhouse."
The older woman, who she hoped was the Adele woman Irene had told her to meet with, let her eyes travel upward to her hair that she had French braided that morning. She found that it hid the white streak in her hair better. People liked to stare at it, she hated it. It had been present since her birth and no matter what hair products she used she couldn't hide it.
The older woman clapped her hands to her mouth to stifle a gasp and took a few steps back. Marie was starting to think she should leave when the woman's eyes began to tear. She was saved from awkward exit by and handsome blonde man who walked in from another room with a mouth and hand full of sandwich.
"What's wrong Gran?" the man asked looking as confused as she felt.
"Anna-Marie." The woman said in a strangled voice.
The man looked even more confused now and turned to look at her, his confusion doubling in the process. "Sookie?"
What kind of a name was Sookie?
"No, no. It's Anna-Marie." The woman said. "She's come home!" and that was when she flung herself at Marie.
She was so shocked that she couldn't move as the woman wrapped her arms around her. Stiff as a board she turned her wide eyes to the man who had a piece of cheese hanging from his mouth, she wouldn't be getting any help from him. She calmed herself and tried in vain to remove the woman gently from her, but nothing doing as the woman had a death grip on her.
"Who is she, Gran?" the man asked confused.
"Anna-Marie!" she exclaimed through sobs. "It's Anna-Marie, your baby sister!"
Marie was extremely uncomfortable now. She had no idea what was going on and this woman was getting her shirt all wet.
The man was studying her intently now and when his eyes traveled up to her hair surprise took over his pretty features. "Holy shit." He said.
"Please let go of me." She tried, hoping not to sound too mean.
The woman pulled back but didn't let go. Marie could see that the woman's face was equally as wet as Marie's shirt.
"I just can't believe you're back." She said.
"Who's back Gran?" a voice came from behind her.
There was the girl who had been sunbathing in the yard. Marie was completely freaked out now. Before Marie stood her blonde haired blue eyed twin. Marie was starting to feel sick as some of the confusing confessions Irene had made in her letter started to make since.
"It's Anna-Marie, Sook." The man said, cheese still hanging from his mouth.
The woman with the ridiculous name of Sookie went from staring at her face to her hair. Now more than ever she wished she could be a teleporter. They were all staring at her as though she were a dream and that if they looked away she would disappear.
After several tense moments, she finally decided she needed to say something.
"How do y'all know me?" she asked, already knowing and dreading the answer.
Sookie was giving her a strange look, one she had come to associate with telepaths trying to read her mind. Was ridiculously named Sookie a telepath? Were the others mutants as well?
"Oh well of course you wouldn't remember us." The older woman said, wiping her eyes and pulling Marie into the house and then into a living room. The room was just like the outside of the house, old and lived in. "You were barely five months old when you were taken."
Marie was trying to imagine blind as a bat Irene sneaking into her nursery and taking her. The image just wouldn't form.
The woman sat her down on the worn couch and pulled a thick photo album from the bookshelf on the other side of the room. The man and Sookie took seats on the couch opposite her while the older woman sat down next to her and began flipping through the album.
"Here we are." She said and pushed the album into her lap.
In the first picture was a woman in a hospital gown holding a swaddled baby. As Marie looked closer she saw that the baby had wisps of auburn hair with a tuft of bangs. Marie was feeling she really could have gone without this truth for the rest of her life. These people seemed like the touchy feely kind and frankly she just wasn't like that.
The woman showed her a few more pictures and blathered on about random events that made no sense to her. Then she told about how here parents had died in a flood years ago and how her brother Jason and sister Sookie had come to live here with her. It was so surreal that Marie had tried to pinch herself awake several times with no success.
"So where have you been all this time?" Jason, her brother, asked.
That was a tricky question and to answer it truthfully she would have to out her status as a mutant. "Well, I grew up in Caddelcott, Mississippi. A woman named Irene Adler took care of me. She just died this past month, it was her last wish that I come here." She said carefully.
"So you never knew about us?" Sookie, her sister, asked.
"No, Irene had told me she was my aunt and that both of my parents had died when I was young." She said. Marie couldn't help but think of the pictures Irene had shown her of her supposed parents.
"This Irene lady is the one who kidnapped you then?" Jason asked a twinge of uncertain anger in his voice.
Marie shook her head. "I don't see how. She was blinder then a bat her whole life."
Adele, her 'Gran', clapped a hand over her mouth. "The kidnapper could still be out there."
Marie thought it unlikely that anyone could kidnap her now but decided not to voice that opinion. Not only did she have deadly soul stealing skin but since the accident four years ago, she was now invulnerable and had super strength and flight to boot. Unfortunately the woman she had gotten the powers from was laying brain dead in a hospital in Chicago. The whole incident had been an accident, the woman, Carol, had grabbed her arm and Marie couldn't manage to push her off in time.
"Did she treat you good?" Adele asked, worry clearly written on her face. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jason and Sookie lean in.
"Yeah, she was great." Marie said, feeling sad for the first time since she learned of Irene's death.
Adele didn't look like she wanted to believe it but dropped the subject. They spent a couple more hours talking; well Adele talked while Marie listened. Jason and Sookie both had to leave after the first hour to go to work. Adele explained that Jason worked for the County Road Crew while Sookie was a barmaid at a local place. Marie decided not to comment on their high achievements. Though she wasn't much better, she had only stayed at Xavier's long enough to her diploma and her degree in automotive engineering.
"Will you be staying?" Adele asked. "Here in Bon Temps?"
Marie hadn't actually thought about it. She had moved around so much that she was used to it. But looking at the hope in the woman's eye she couldn't help but think it might be nice to settle down for a while.
"Well, I guess I could." She said with what she hoped was a pleasant smile.
"Would you like to stay here?" she asked. "You can sleep in Jason's old room."
That was a bit too much for her. "I was thinking that if I did stay I'd try to get an apartment or something." She really hoped that didn't sound as rude as she thought it did.
"Oh of course!" Adele said. "You don't know us from someone off the street." And she got up and walked out of the room.
She returned a moment later with a thin yellow phone book. "Now I know Sam Merlotte, owns a couple of duplexes right of the main parish road but there's not many places to rent around here." She said flipping through the phone book.
After a few moments she decided they would just go down to Merlotte's Sam's bar where Sookie also worked, for lunch. While they were there they would see about getting a place for Marie to rent.