Despite my attempts to woo her, she never gave in. She'd told me the first night we met that she wouldn't be able to ever be in a relationship with me. She'd come in to Fangtasia to investigate some local murders to help her brother. She made her way to me only after my child summoned her to me; my attempts at glamour had failed. After answering her questions, I talked her into sitting with me. It was the first real conversation I had had with a woman or a breather in centuries; it was light banter but her intelligence and wit showed. It was also the first time that a woman refused my advances; in a way it allowed me to be myself around her.
"Who said anything about a relationship?" I asked smirking.
"You are amusing. I like you Eric but I could never be with you. I am a one man kind of woman and I would expect any man of mine to reciprocate that respect. You're not that kind of man. Tell you what though, since I like you and I think you like me, we could be friends. Now, I can tell by the look on your face you are thinking about laughing, but don't. Let me extend the first branch of friendship, and then you can think on it and get back to me."
I did not know then but I understand now that she knew all about my success in relationships by the sheer number of my conquests that were present in the bar thinking of me. After getting to know her, I understood why I would never stand a chance.
"A branch of friendship; what could you possibly have to offer me?" I leered at her hoping to smell her arousal.
She laughed at my antics; a real out loud wonderful laugh.
"See, there you go again. Seriously though, I'll share my secret with you. The reason I think I can help my brother is I can read minds. Vampires are like a blank space. I can feel the presence of your mind but get no sound from it; it is quite nice. I think I can help you too. The man in the ball cap is an under cover cop. Before you say you have no issues, save it, you're wrong because there is a young vampire named Terrance feeding off a man in the ladies room. Now, as in a normal friendship, I'll leave and end my visit because I understand you have some housework you need to attend to but you'll drop by and visit me soon so we can catch up."
She winked at me and disappeared. I'd been unknowingly sitting next to a fairy and her secret was that she's a telepath. The absurdity of it had me laughing until bloody tears came from my eyes.
I did 'drop by' to catch up with her. I learned a lot about her and she learned some about me but we formed a very amicable friendship, one we still enjoy, and I hired her under contract to employ her telepathy. It was during contract negotiations I learned she was fae royalty. Needless to say that complicated some of my ever evolving plots but it did keep my queen from taking her as a pet or asset; the fae crown would have been all over her. Never the less, I highly value her as an asset to my area but even more so as a friend, she has proven herself loyal, inventive, intelligent, compassionate and fierce. There are very few I've counted as friend in my millennia but Sookie Stackhouse is very deserving of the title.
I have to call on that friendship today. Her contract specifically states she is under no obligation to travel out of state. All out of state offers are completely at her discretion. I have found she is very reluctant to travel. Apparently some asshole vampire has been stalking her for years but she has some type of magic that allows her to remain safe in Louisiana. I do not understand myself, I have never heard of such magic but I learned a long time ago to never doubt the fae.
My maker is missing. No one has seen him in nearly two weeks and I am feeling very strange things in our bond, or rather not feeling as he shut our bond down suddenly almost two weeks ago. His pain has leaked through a few times but not for long enough that I can use our bond to locate him. I need her help. I and the vampires of area 9 in Dallas Texas have been unable to even understand what happened to him.