If Wishes Could Fly, We Would Never See the Sun

To: Bill Compton

From: Secret Santa

Summary: Bill finds a friend in a small town bartender but will she believe his tale of why people should be wary of making wishes at Christmas?

~v~

It had been twelve months but the memories remained. They always would for Bill Compton. Vampires were blessed and cursed with perfect recall. He pulled up outside the bar and made his way to the entrance at a human pace. This night, he desired the company of humans but not in the crowds he would find in Shreveport or Monroe. And to go to Merlottes would be too painful, not after everything he had been through.

When he drove south toward Winnfield he had no intention of stopping. But the lights and the style of the bar called to him. As if Leona's Roadhouse had chosen him rather than the opposite being true. The building itself was reminiscent of so many other southern taverns, so much like Merlottes. But it wasn't Merlottes; it was somewhere else, somewhere new.

As he entered, the smells and sounds ignited more sparks in his memory. It made him yearn for the first time he walked in to another bar, in another place. He sat in a booth and ran his fingers along the scarred tabletop. No, it was too much for him. He couldn't sit here. Bill made his way to the bar and slid onto a stool, feeling a sense of self satisfaction at his deviation from that fateful day.

"What can I get ya friend?"

Bill smiled at the bartender. She was pretty, perhaps in her late twenties to early thirties, with the easy, infectious smile that all bartenders have.

"May I have a glass of red wine?"

"Sure thing, you sure look like you could use some cheerin' up. Ain't seen you in here before, just passin' through?"

"You could say that."

Leona put the glass of wine on a napkin and slid it toward her customer. "Yeah, I could, but you ain't. Passin' through that is, you look like you're runnin' away."

Bill's face was unreadable to Leona; he briefly considered that being amongst humans wasn't the right decision. But the alternative was ... being alone with the knowledge that all the things he had yearned for weren't right for him after all. Leona leaned her elbows on the bar and stared into Bill's eyes.

"Now, what would a handsome guy like you be runnin' away from?"

Bill was taken aback. It had been a long time since someone had spoken to him without realising he was a Vampire. If this woman had the slightest idea of his nature, the last thing she'd be doing was looking into his eyes. She stuck out her hand, another indicator she was clueless of his undead status.

"Leona Barton, owner of this fine establishment."

The Vampire thought for a second before reaching out and clasping her hand in his. If she didn't catch on to what he was after feeling his cool skin then what harm could it do to let her think he was human. Just for old time's sake.

"Bill Compton."

"Must be cold tonight, wouldn't be surprised if we get some serious frost." Bill's surprise was hidden from Leona. "So what brings you to Winnfield on Christmas eve? It sure wasn't a Christmas wish."

This time Bill's expression made him an open book. "Wishes should never be taken lightly, especially at Christmas, that's something that I learned very recently."

Leona frowned, she knew there were Vampires and those who were two-natured recently went public. She was sceptical of every myth now, even if she'd never met or seen someone who had their roots in fairy tales or horror movies.

"So there are Vampires and Werewolves ... are you trying to tell me some Fairy Godmother granted you a wish and it all went wrong?"

Bill suppressed a shudder; the pain of his near final death at the hands of the Fae was all too raw. "Not Fairies ... they don't grant wishes. But I had the ... misfortune of being visited by one of the Djinn; you would probably call them Genies."

"Really?" Leona snorted. "And did he give you three wishes? Did you rub his lamp?"

"No." Leona's mirth was cut short by Bill's dark gaze. "Elakir came to me and gave me one wish."

"Somethin' tells me we're gonna need reinforcements for this story." Leona rang the bell over the bar and shouted for last call as she pulled a bottle of Johnny Walker off the shelf. "So, how did this guy know to come to you?"

Bill watched as Leona served the remaining customers, telling them to drink quickly so she could get home early on Christmas Eve.

"Elakir felt my longing. They're drawn to yearning like a moth to a flame."

Leona raised an eyebrow. "Who was she?"

Bill smiled; it was his first genuine smile in months. "It's always a woman isn't it?"

"Naturally." Leona saluted with the bottle in her hand and called loudly that it was 'drinkin' up time'.

"She was ... is ... very special. Sookie was the first woman I loved for a very long time but I lost her. It was only when I lost her I realised how much I loved her."

"Ah let me guess." Leona nodded. "By the time you figured everything out she was with someone else?"

"If I knew the owner was psychic I wouldn't have come in here." Bill smirked as Leona shrugged. If only she knew that if she really were psychic, she probably wouldn't be a bar owner anymore. "Yes, she belonged to another. So I wished she would choose me. That was on Christmas Eve last year."

Leona walked to the door, flicking the lock before coming back to pour herself another drink. She quirked an eyebrow at Bill's still full glass but didn't say anything. She'd come across more than one poor soul who only came into her bar for a friendly ear.

"I almost don't want to know what happened next. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. Not for you anyway or you wouldn't be here. You'd be home snugglin' with this Sookie girl." She gestured to a booth and walked over, making herself comfortable as Bill settled across from her.

"What happened after the wish was ... incredible. When I ... woke, Sookie was next to me. She said all the things I'd been waiting to hear from her. We made love like there was no tomorrow. For a while, everything was perfect."

"A while? Then what happened?" Leona frowned and sipped at her whiskey.

"I realised she wasn't the girl I fell in love with. She was still beautiful, courageous, smart, kind and loving but our time apart had hardened her, made her cynical."

"Being cynical isn't a bad thing." Leona shrugged. "Neither is protecting yourself by toughening up."

Bill nodded. "I know but it changed her, made things tougher for our relationship. When I met her she was so open to everything I could show her, I was her first everything. If I hadn't messed up with her before, I could have had that Sookie. The Sookie who accepted there were things I had to do, the Sookie who ..."

He almost slipped and told Leona that he wanted the Sookie who wasn't known to the entire Supe world, the Sookie that was just his and no-one else's, in the time when the only person who could take her from him was Eric.

"I hate to say, Bill, but it sounds like this Sookie was a naive girl when you met her and you didn't like her when she was all grown up! Did you just dump her? That's not cool, not cool at all."

Bill's eyes rimmed red and his voice was barely above a whisper. "I didn't break up with her, I tried so hard to adapt to her new outlook but ... my wish had other ramifications."

Leona nodded and pressed her hand upon his, gesturing for him to carry on. He found himself wanting to tell this woman everything, but to do that he had to reveal what he was.

"When I said Sookie belonged to another – it wasn't a romantic euphamism, Leona. I am Vampire, we possess our humans – they are our property. When I wished for Sookie to be mine, I removed all of the protection she had.

The one she was with before, he was the strongest Vampire in Louisiana. Spurned by Sookie, he went to another state. It wasn't long before a Vampire stronger than me took Sookie from me. I couldn't protect her, I didn't have the contacts or the ... sway with my elders that her last Lover had."

"They just ... took her? That's awful, Bill."

"Yes, it is. In trying to fulfil my own selfish desires I sentenced her to a life of servitude to an elder Vampire. I hate to think what he has done with her. Now I'm alone with my grief, for the love and warmth that I lost to my own self-centred wish."

"Well, that's certainly a cautionary tale about wishing too hard for things." Leona looked at their still joined hands. "It's a shame that Djinn guy couldn't come back and take it all away."

Bill chuckled darkly. "I think if I ever saw Elakir again I'd rip his throat out."

The air shimmered around them and Bill stared at Leona as her eyes changed from smoky blue to the brightest electric azure. Tattoos mapped themselves out on the exposed flesh of her face, neck and hands and her straight, white teeth elongated into sharp points.

"I feel your guilt, Bill Compton. It weighs on you, it consumes you."

The Vampire blinked as the transformation was completed and Elakir sat in Leona's place. "What? Why are you doing this? Why are you torturing me? Haven't you done enough?"

"This is enough, Bill. The last year has shown you – remember this place, remember the woman you thought you spoke to tonight. She longs for a lost love, just as you did. Find it together and make a future, do not linger in the past for it only leads to pain."

Bill covered his eyes as the light blinded him, he fell backwards, screaming as if the power of the sun itself seared his skin. Then it was dark again. He uncovered his eyes and looked around; he was in his resting place in his home. Bill shook his head, confused, as he opened the trap door and climbed into the kitchen. Everything was as it should be. He opened the refrigerator and took out a Trueblood, immediately noticing the date on the bottle.

It was four months out of date. Bill knew that wasn't possible, he always kept a fresh supply. That's when the reality hit him. He ran to the front door and grabbed the paper off the porch, staring at the date with a mixture of wonder and excitement.

"It never happened. The last year ... I can help everyone. I can stop Sookie being taken by De Castro."

The Djinn's words echoed in his mind and, as if the paper had been created just for him, there on page four was a half page advertisement for Leona's Roadhouse.

A/N: To join in the Secret Santa fic exchange fun go to www . fanfiction . net /u/3335966/sookies_secret_santa we already have 21 writers who have thrown their names into the hat! It's not a contest , there's no judging process, no specific pairings/characters and there are no minimum or maximum word limits!