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Pissed at the world. That summed up how Sookie was feeling very nicely. Before last night, betrayal had only been a word in the dictionary for her. Now its definition stung like venom headed straight for her heart. Bill had been sent here to pull her close, he'd been ordered to seduce her by his Queen. She'd meant nothing to him at all, even after giving her virginity and her heart to him.

She snorted as she packed things into boxes in a haphazard way. It was an ugly sound to match her state of mind. She'd never before even considered leaving Bon Temps and now she was headed to the other side of the country. Sookie was determined to make a clean break from all vampires and the only way to do that was to head to where there were few, if any, vampires at all.

The arrangements had been made easily enough. Once she'd received her big check from Eric Northman, she'd gone online and found a small log cabin for rent in Washington State. Someday she'd come back to Louisiana, but not for a good long while.

The sound of her phone ringing startled her, making her jump.

"Hello?"

"Sookie, it's Sam."

"Sam, please, my mind is made up, this is the only way I am gonna be able to extricate myself from all this vampire shit. You know it's true."

"There has to be some other way. I'll stake that fucking Eric Northman and Bill if it will mean you won't leave."

"Don't even think that, let alone say it out loud, Sam. You can't be sure who's listening. I'll call you when I'm settled."

There was a long pause and Sookie could feel how melancholy Sam was, even over the phone.

"I'll miss you Sookie. Things won't ever be the same around here. Maybe it's time for me to move on too."

The phone clicked in her ear before she could reply. She felt a tear slide down her cheek as she placed the receiver into the cradle for what was sure to be the last time for a long time.

"Sook, I got the last boxes loaded. Hey, you alright sis?"

"I'll be okay, Jason. Just sad and a little scared to be leaving the only home I've ever known."

"It's not too late to change your mind…"

"I know, I know."

Jason crossed the room and pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head in an uncharacteristic way.

"I know we ain't always been close but you have to know that I love you and I worry 'bout you."

"I love you too, Jason."

The embrace ended and Sookie put her sunglasses on. Smiling up at Jason with all the bravado she could muster she asked, "Walk me to the U-Haul?"

Jason nodded and put his arm across her shoulders.

"Now remember, you know that Eric is going to contact you to try and figure out where I am. Bill probably will as well. Tell them nothing."

"How can I tell them anything when you won't even tell me where you're headed?"

"Exactly. I love you, brother."

And with that, Sookie Stackhouse, telepathic barmaid, hopped behind the wheel of the moving truck and headed into the rays of the rapidly rising sun.

She was midway through Kansas when her phone started to ring. She knew that it would be Eric calling since the sun was surely set in Louisiana by then. Ten million dollars wouldn't have been enough to get her to answer the phone. It rang the preset five times and then went to voicemail. Two minutes passed and the phone rang again. This continued for thirty solid minutes until Sookie decided to turn the phone off. She'd told Sam and Jason that she would call when she was stopped for the night, so neither one of them would be calling.

With her butt going numb and her belly protesting the lack of any real sustenance, she decided it was time to pull over for the night. A sign declared that Salina was just a couple miles ahead and that seemed like as good a place as any to stop. She saw the lights of the Super 8 as soon as she took the exit and headed that direction. She wasn't sure what hurt more, her body, her head or her heart. All of them felt heavy as she parked the U-Haul and headed into the lobby.

"Fuck-a-doodle-doo," she muttered to herself. The night clerk just HAD to be a damn vampire. She supposed it was as good a job as any for the undead. A little more respectable than posing as eye candy in a vampire bar, she supposed.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like a room for one night."

"Single or double occupancy?" The vampire, whose name tag read Garrett, leered at her as he asked.

"Double. My boyfriend will meet me here in a bit. He got stuck in some traffic a few miles back. A real bad accident on 135 back near Wichita…" she gulped and choked on her words. She was a bad liar to begin with and now she was a rambling idiot to boot.

"That will be $55.00. Sign here and here…" his leer was gone, replaced now by a look of suspicion. Hopefully he would buy her story and not decide to pay her a visit later that night.

Sookie hurried back to the truck and moved it to the spot in front of her room. Grabbing her overnight bag and purse she scrambled to get into her room. What she needed was a nice hot shower and some pizza delivered to the room.

An hour and a half later, she was in her pj's, her belly was full of veggie pizza thanks to the pizzeria next door and she was beyond sleepy. There was one more thing to do before she drifted off to sleep. She turned on her phone and was assaulted multiple times by the voice mail notification chime. Ten messages were waiting to be heard and she knew that every one of them would be from Eric. Ignoring the blinking light she first dialed her brother. She got his answering machine, no big surprise. He was surely out chasing ass and downing beer.

"Jason, it's me. I'm stopped for the night and just wanted you to know I'm safe. Love you."

Before she could dial Sam's number her phone began to ring. The caller ID told her what she already knew, it was Eric. She hit the ignore button, waited until it went to voicemail and then called her former boss. He answered on the first ring.

"Hey Sam, it's just me. Wanted to let you know I'm stopped for the night and I'm okay."

"Let go of my damn phone you fucking leech!"

"Sookie, where are you?"

That high handed Viking vampire had taken Sam's phone.

"Eric, I don't want to talk to you, put Sam back on the phone."

"WHERE ARE YOU?" he bellowed so loudly that she dropped her cell phone onto the floor.

"I'm not about to tell you, Eric. I left so that I wouldn't have to be involved in vampire bullshit anymore. Now put Sam on the goddamn phone!"

"Tell me where you are or I swear there won't be anything left of Sam Merlotte to bury!"

"You won't do it. You won't because you know it would kill me if you hurt him. Plus if you even think about doing anything to Sam, I'll have the Shreveport weres on your ass quicker than you can say Dracula."

"There is nowhere that you can run that I won't find you. You and I have a bond and I can find you through it."

"Well, Eric, if that's true, why are you screaming at me to tell you where I am? I think you're full of shit, I think I don't care what you want and I think you can take this as my final notice that I quit."

"You think that's what this is about? That I merely want you as an employee? I'm not the one who betrayed you, Sookie."

"No, you're not, but you took a lot of joy in telling me about Bill."

"Only because I wanted you to see what a weasel he is and because I want you in my bed."

"Sorry, I don't shift gears that fast. It would never have happened."

"It will happen, lover. This is fate that you and I will be together."

"Put Sam on the fucking phone."

"I'll see you soon, min alskarinna." Sookie heard the phone pass and heard the door of Sam's trailer slam.

"Sookie, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay Sam; he'll never find me in Maine. He'll give up soon enough. I'll call you again soon."

She heard Sam softly say goodnight as she hit the end button on her cell phone. With any luck, Eric would take the bait and head to the wrong coast looking for her. Sookie wasn't fool enough to think that he would give up so easily. She was an asset to him and he was a relentless businessman.

It took Sookie five days to finally make it to the small town that was her new hometown. Anyone who knew Sookie would wonder why she chose such a place. She had always been a strong devotee of sunbathing and this place had the most rain and cloud cover of any US city. The answer was simple, she wanted a clean break, she wanted to become a different person, and she wanted everything, including the weather to be different that it had been in Bon Temps.

Tom-Tom had been a lifesaver and was once again her best friend as it led her from one pig path to the next; she never would have in a million years found her rental without the GPS. The sky was overcast and heavy with moisture as she pulled up to what was going to be her new home for the unforeseeable future. Sookie looked through the gloom to see the black Mercedes parked along the driveway. She pulled into the parking spot slowly, being extra careful not to make contact with her new landlords vehicle. By the time Sookie made it out of the cab of the truck, the woman had made her way around the U-Haul to greet her.

"Hello, you must be Sookie. I'm Karen Newton. Welcome to Forks, Miss Stackhouse!"

Immediately Sookie began sizing her up, physically and telepathically. Karen Newton was high polish, high gloss and high maintenance. She was a hard worker and honest with the exception that she was cheating on her husband with a high school biology teacher. Sookie shook herself and reached out to shake Karen's extended hand.

"Yep, that's me. It's nice to finally be out of that truck!"

Might as well go ahead and start the small talk, this is to be expected since I'll be the local curiosity for a while.

"I can imagine." Good lord I hope this one isn't as crazy as she seems. Although she did pay a year's rent in advance.

"You have keys for me? I'm eager to get started." I'm here five minutes and already someone thinks I'm crazy Sookie. I guess some things will never change.

"Why yes, of course." The sound of another vehicle laboring up the gravel driveway caused both women to turn and look through the tree's. "That would be my son Mike and a few of his friends. They've volunteered to come and help you unload the U-Haul."

Karen's smile was earnest but Sookie knew that her son and some of his friends had come to ogle the newcomer. Whatever the reason, she was glad for the help. A blue Suburban pulled up behind the moving truck and a gaggle of teenage boys piled out.

"Miss Stackhouse, this is my son Mike," the tallest of the boys held out his hand in greeting and Sookie shook it.

"Pleased to meet you, Mike."

Mike lowered his watery blue eyes to the soggy ground and nodded shyly. He didn't really want to be here. This was his night to spy on some girl named Bella and her asshole boyfriend Edward. That was so much more that Sookie ever wanted to know. Karen Newton continued on with the introductions.

"These young men are Tyler, Eric, Ben, Damon and Will."

"Nice to meet all of you," Sookie said as she nodded at each of them in turn.

The rush of six hormonal teenage minds almost made her swoon. Five days with very little contact with anyone other than fast food employees had left Sookie feeling defenseless. She worked furiously to build up her mental wall as each boy assessed her and decided that they would indeed like to fuck her brains out.

"Alright boys, I expect you guys to show Miss Stackhouse proper respect. Mike, come in to work as soon as you're done. We have that new shipment of hiking boots coming in and they'll all need to be priced."

Mike didn't groan out loud but he was whining like crazy in his mind.

"Alrighty then, let's get started shall we?"

All in all it took the seven of them around three hours to unload everything off the truck and then arrange the furniture to Sookie's liking. She offered to pay the boys as they were heading out but each one refused politely. As Ben was heading out the door he smiled shyly up at Sookie.

"Miss Stackhouse, I happen to know that they need help down at the Carver Café. They just had a waitress quit and no one has applied yet. I wash dishes there on the weekends."

"Well that's sweet of you to tell me that, Ben. I'll keep it in mind, thanks."

Mike honked his obnoxious SUV horn and Ben hurried down the driveway. She caught one last thought from the retreating vehicle as it backed away.

Wonder what she'll think of the Cullens?