AN: This is a True Blood story but it contains some characters and themes from the SMV books. You don't need to have watched season 4 of TB to understand this story. I am planning on changing loads of things anyway.

Chapter 1: Home

I waited until the guard had bolted the door of my cell to heave a sigh of relief. I was bleeding and bruised but none of my bones were broken, and that was the best outcome I could have hoped for. My most superficial ailments would be healed by the medicinal potion I knew Keelan would be bringing me, and a few mouthfuls of fae bread would restore my energy and magical abilities; but mending shattered limbs took time and powerful magic, and I was running out of both.

Today had been horrible, but then most days were, lately. I had been in Fairy, as the realm of my fairy relatives was called, for close to six months. The first four months had been fairly idyllic (or rather, with hindsight, they had seemed so to my eyes but had in fact been an insidious grooming period), then things had gradually deteriorated, only to reach critical point about a month ago.

That's when I had finally started to outwardly rebel. And that's when my 're-education regimen' (which was just a very fancy way of describing plain old torture) had begun. At first, my tormentor had been a male fairy called Declan. He'd attempted to set me straight with a combo of starvation, sleep-deprivation, and positive reinforcement. Basically, anytime I showed signs of improvement, I was allowed to stay in my room at the great hall with the instructors and the other recruits, fed well and got to sleep in a nice warm bed. When my behavior wasn't satisfactory (which was a more frequent occurrence), I was isolated, denied food for days at a time, and left to rot overnight in the Box, as they called their solitary confinement cell.

The Box was a plain chamber in the dungeons underneath the fancy castle where the V.I.F. (very important fairies) lived. Inside were only a straw bed and a rudimentary toilet. It sure wasn't the Four Seasons, but I could have handled it just fine except for one little detail: the walls were spelled to reverberate with the slightest, tiniest noise, and amplify it exponentially. That meant that even if I stayed completely still in a corner of the cell, the sound of my own breathing and heartbeat hit me in a eardrum-splitting, migraine-inducing cacophony, without interruption. In these conditions, it was impossible to rest, or think, or do anything at all expect wish for death, and after a night in the Box I was always considerably more pliable. Up to a point, that is.

You see, I had no trouble faking compliance on the 'minor' issues to avoid further punishment.

'Yes, I believe in the superiority of the fae races over mere humans and other supernatural races. Yes, I have forsaken my human relatives and former friends. Yes, I swear eternal loyalty to Queen Mab. Yes, I will use my newly-improved powers to fight my Queen's enemies to the death. Yes, when I return to the human realm, I will track down other part-fairies gifted with the spark and lure them into Fairy so that they too can become Queen Mab's minions.'

But there was one topic on which I would not budge: 'NO. I will not marry that vicious bastard Lochlan.'

Lochlan was a member of another fairy clan which had recently formed an alliance with Queen Mab's clan. He was a hateful little creep who absolutely abhorred humans and everything to do with them, which is why he was almost as disgusted as I was when his liege, the warlord Breandan, had negotiated for me as his bride. Breandan hated humans too, but after learning that Queen's Mab genealogists had discovered I was related to a certain Niall -who happened to be Breandan and the Queen's arch nemesis - he had taken a great interest in me and decided he wanted me bound to one of his most trusted lieutenants. I didn't understand all the ramifications of his decision, but I knew I was a strategic piece in the wargame Breandan and Queen Mab were playing. They were preparing for an upcoming conflict, for which they were to fight for the same cause, hence the political alliance. That was also the reason why Queen Mab was nabbing part-fairies from the human realm left and right, brainwashing them, honing their magic and fighting skills in order to make them good little canon-fodder, so to speak.

I, like all the other recruits, had been lured into Fairy with the promise of friendship, companionship, protection, and a blissful life in a candy-colored dreamland. Unfortunately, by the time I had figured out the real agenda of my 'saviors', it was too late to tell them to go to straight to hell.

But the forthcoming war wasn't my biggest issue right now. I was too busy trying to escape an arranged marriage with that huge sadist, Lochlan. I'd only properly met him once, during a banquet in honor of Breandan. He'd sat next to me and proceeded to recount in great detail what he'd done to the last 'filth-blooded hybrid trash' he'd gotten his hands on. The worst part was his totally flat tone of voice as he described scenes of depraved abuse: you would have thought he was reading the phone book. After Queen Mab had traded me (without so much as asking my opinion on the matter, I might add), she'd been infuriated when I had voiced my adamant refusal to go through with the union. By the fairies' own rules, you couldn't marry off a woman against her consent because the words spoken during the wedding ceremony were magically binding. If I didn't say 'yes,' the marriage was not valid. And I had no intention of saying yes. So Queen Mab handed me over to Declan to be taught the value of loyalty. After three weeks under his special care, though, I wasn't any closer to becoming a blushing bride so Neave, Lochlan's equally perverted sister, had taken over my re-education.

Neave didn't believe in starvation or positive reinforcement. In fact, she made sure I was well fed and well cared-for in between our tête-à-têtes regardless of my progress, because she liked her victims to be healthy every time she set out to play with them. This way, they lasted longer, she had explained. Her thing was knives. She was a virtuoso with them, and was taking her sweet time with me, increasing the intensity of her ministrations with each encounter, not wanting me to break down too soon and spoil her fun. But after only three sessions with her, I knew I was fast approaching my physical and mental breaking-point. Which is why I was planning to escape today.

For my plan to work, I had to be in the Box. In order to have Neave put me there, I knew I had to anger her enough for her to want to deprive me of my usual post-torture TLC. So this afternoon, after I'd been brought down from my room to Neave's make-shift torture chamber in the castle, I had bitten her shoulder with all my might when she'd bent down over my shackled body to work on my upper arms. She'd gone completely mad with rage and had slashed my chest, arms, and thighs with more violence than ever before. I'd thought for a minute that I wouldn't survive the ordeal, but luckily the guards posted beside the door had heard her screams of fury and had restrained her before she could do irreparable damage to her future sister-in-law. As hoped, I was sent to the Box for my sins, and there I now awaited my co-conspirator, Keelan.

Poor dumb, gullible Keelan.

He was my Offensive Warfare Techniques instructor, which meant he'd taught me how to control and improve my microwave fingers thingy (which was really called an Essential Energy Blast). According to him, I was his best student. He'd also fallen in love with me over the months we'd spent training together. But most importantly, he was a full fairy, which meant he could teleport and knew where the nearest portal was and how to activate it. I had no romantic interest in him, but after my situation had began to deteriorate, I'd realized I would need all the friends I could get. At first, it was relatively innocent flirting, but when Declan had started to put me more and more often in the Box, it had gone further… first kisses, then declarations of feelings. After Neave had embarked on her reign of terror, I had talked him into eloping with me. Together, we'd secretly hatched an escape plan, and last night we'd agreed to put it into action. To make sure he'd come for me, I did something I had never thought I would ever do: I had sex with a man I neither loved nor particularly liked, out of sheer self-interest.

Yes, I was aware of what that made me, but I was past caring. The past couple of months had hardened me and rendered me more cynical than ever. I'd realized that I'd learned nothing from Bill's many betrayals. Once again, I had been fooled by some empty promises and easy lies, and I'd sworn to myself that would NEVER happen to me again! I decided I was beyond done being a victim, and I would not wait to be rescued this time. I would rescue myself, with all the tools I had at my disposal. And yes, Keelan was one such tool. I'd had to become as ruthless as my tormentors simply to survive, and if that meant manipulating the feelings of a man who could help me out of this hell, then I was prepared to do whatever it took.

And now that the plan was set in motion, I was waiting. Seated on the cool floor of my cell, trying to ignore the deafening noise and the pain caused by my injuries, I waited.

After what seemed an interminable time, the sound of the big metal door being unbolted reverberated on the walls. The door opened and I had never been so happy to see Keelan's tall, slender figure, and handsome face. He did not step inside but held the door open so I could crawl out (aside from the echo spell, the Box drained the magic out of its occupants, so that full-fairies could not teleport out of it. It wasn't an issue for me since I had been unable to master the skill, but the cell had still weakened what magic I had). As soon as I had crossed the threshold, he picked me up and held me in a bone-crushing hug. My cuts were still raw, so I whimpered in pain.

"Forgive me, my beloved," he apologized in a choked-up voice. "Your nightmare is almost over."

As Keelan loosened his embrace, I noted that my guard was passed-out on the floor. That was the main reason I had needed to be here: being basically inescapable, the Box was poorly guarded and nobody ever came down to the dungeons except to fetch or bring down some unfortunate soul. I was currently the only occupant and Neave had specified I was to stay here until next morning. It would be hours before anyone noticed I had disappeared, but I wasn't about to take any chances. "Get us out of here," I whispered.

Keelan didn't need to be told twice and immediately teleported us to a hillside miles away from the village. He laid me down on the soft grass and gently looked me over. I knew my tunic, which was all I was wearing, was stained with blood. He tore the fabric from my body and swore when he saw the extent of my injuries. "I would make her curse the day she was brought into the world, if only I had the time," he acidly spat as he pulled a leather pouch f rom his satchel. I allowed him to hold my head up as he brought the mouth of the container to my lips. As soon as the salty liquid hit my tongue, I felt the pain drift away. I drained the healing brew in under a minute and by the time I was done, I was well enough to be able to sit up under my own volition. I examined my body, noting that the bleeding had stopped and the shallowest cuts were already knitting up, before looking up at Keelan, who was squatting beside me.

"Thank you," I said with a smile.

He leaned forward to kiss me and I let him. "For you, my most beloved, anything," he replied after we had broken off. He handed me a small golden loaf of bread which I devoured in haste. I smiled as I felt my magic being restored and then I put on the clean clothes he had produced from his bag.

"Okay. Let's go," I declared. We weren't far from the portal and stealthily crept closer until I could clearly see its shimmering outline. Since it was one of those portals that never closed, there was always the risk of someone else using it and we couldn't chance premature discovery. Luckily, the area was dead calm, so we approached unhampered.

Keelan stood in front of the portal, put down his satchel, extended both his hands palm up, and said a few words in the musical ancient dialect used by the fairies for all their magical rituals. I recognized some of the words since I'd had to learn a number of incantations, and made sure to remember phonetically those I didn't understand. I watched as the clear shiny surface morphed into a cloudy blue vortex, and I knew this meant the portal was ready to be used. I glanced one last time at my dark-haired companion, and was shocked by how little guilt I was feeling for what I was about to do.

Just as he span to face me, I gathered my magic and aimed at his side. The energy blast hit him like a freight-train, lifting him clear off the ground. He was unconscious as he crashed into the grass. "I'm sorry, but this is my journey alone to make," I declared. As helpful as he'd been, Keelan was still a Queen Mab loyalist, and he fully believed in the fae-supremacist propaganda (he'd opted to have selective memory when it came to my own heritage because I had the spark). I knew he hoped we'd lay low for a few years then come back to Fairy, beg for the Queen's forgiveness and hope her anger had abated enough for her to bless our union. That wasn't gonna happen.

I bent down to check that everything I needed was in the bag: a little crystal vial containing the blood of a black unicorn (the rarest and most potent of all), a ceremonial knife with a blade fashioned from a dragon's scale and eight small firestones. Keelan had stolen all these potent magical artefacts from Queen Mab at great personal risk, and I didn't want to think about what his punishment would be when the full extent of his treachery was discovered. Without a backward glance, I threw the strap across my torso and stepped into the vortex, emptying my mind of all thoughts except a single one: 'HOME'.

The actual experience of dematerializing was quite indescribable. The best I could do would be to call it falling upward. It only lasted an instant before I was thrown out of the vortex and bounced onto dirt. I swiftly hauled myself upright and looked around.

Oh my God! It had worked!

I was in the cemetery in the woods beside my house. It was bright daylight and I took a couple of seconds to breathe in the Bon Temps air. My God, I had missed home so much! Still, I had a job to do.

I faced the portal and knew I had to act fast. Vortexes were unstable so the one I had just used would soon disappear. I recovered the vial from Keelan's satchel. I unscrewed the stopper and tossed the contents over the portal. The surface instantly turned a glossy crimson. I parroted the incantation Keelan had used to activate the portal and watched as it grew opaque and colorless, like frosted glass. I knew then that the portal was closed, but I wasn't about to stop there. I picked up the dragon-scale blade and slashed through the rapidly fading surface, earning very satisfying sounds of tearing and screeching for my efforts. That meant whatever magic was carried by that particular gateway was dying. This portal and its Fairy equivalent weren't just closed; they were now utterly destroyed.

My hardest task had been accomplished, and I felt like the world had been lifted from my shoulders. I was safe for now.

If Queen Mab wanted to come after me, she'd have to find herself another portal, and that wasn't as easy as it might sound. I just had destroyed the only one in her fiefdom and I knew Breandan didn't have any in his much larger territories since he'd bragged about eradicating them all a long time ago. Fairies were very territorial about doorways to other realms, so the Queen would have to ally herself with another clan which had a working portal in its land. Since fairies were also long-winded, the negotiations could take years. And even if she managed to find herself a new portal, good luck to her making me cross over this time!

As with everything magically-related in the fairy world, you had to be a willing participant. It didn't matter whether you were tricked or lured under false pretenses, but at some point you had to say yes with your heart or with your mind. Needless to say, I would never, ever again, take anything offered by a fairy. As the saying went: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I was plenty shamed already, enough to last me ten lifetimes, so the buck stopped right here and now.

I set off to my home with a spring to my step. I missed my things, Gran's things, the old heirlooms that had belonged to my family for generations. I wanted to sit on the porch and read a good mystery novel. I wanted to suntan on my lawn. I wanted to—

I was pulled out of my musing when I reached the end of my driveway (which I noted with surprise had been completely re-graveled) and my house came into view.

WOW! I couldn't believe my eyes.

The last time I had been here, the farmhouse had been distinctly run-down, but now it looked shiny and polished like a doll-house. The wooden siding had been fully restored and painted over with a fresh coat of a soft yellow color. The grass was flawlessly manicured and the flowerbeds flourishing. I could see contractors working in and around the porch, putting up the finishing touches. I scurried up the stairs but was hailed by a construction worker on my way in. "Sweetheart, where do you think you're going?" he drawled.

I gave him an appraising look and almost snorted. "Oh, honey, I'm so not a sweetheart," I replied. Not anymore, that's for sure.

The man gaped at me but I ignored him, pulled the front door open, and stepped in. I was in for more surprises, it seemed. Gone were the stained walls, musty smell and general squalor left over from the maenad episode. In fact, the house looked better than I could ever remember. Everything was spotless and the rooms smelled of wood polish and clean linen.

I felt tears coming to my eyes. I had never imagined Jason would take such amazing care of my house in my absence. But where had he found the money for such an extensive restoration?

The construction worker had apparently regained his countenance because he addressed me again from the doorway. "Honey, if you don't come back out, I'm calling the police."

I swirled to face him and replied with a big smile. "Yes! Yes, please do! And ask for Jason Stackhouse. Last I heard he was hanging out at the Sheriff's office."

I didn't wait for his reaction to continue my exploration. The kitchen had been upgraded and repainted, the living and dining rooms had been partially refurbished, the old grandfather clock had been fixed and even the piano was tuned. I was pleased to see that the discarded furniture hadn't been thrown away but instead was stored in the guest room downstairs. I took a peek in the guest bathroom (which wasn't en-suite) and found out it had been converted into an all-purpose storage room. What really caught my attention was the huge hot water tank. It was powerful enough for me to never have to worry again about cold showers. That was all the encouragement I needed to check out the bedrooms upstairs. I headed towards Gran's first. Everything was very clean and some minor repairs had been made, but it'd been mostly kept as it was. I gazed longingly at the memory-filled space for a few minutes before walking back along the corridor to check mine.

My floral wallpaper had been refreshed and the wall adjacent to my bed had been painted a pale salmon color. I'd never thought of that shade but it was perfect. My parquet had obviously enjoyed some serious TLC and, while my bed frame was still the same; as I jumped on my bed I discovered I had a brand new mattress. Humm, it was like lounging on clouds.

As soon as I opened the bathroom door, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. My old shower stall was gone and it its stead I found a gorgeous oversized clawfoot bathtub. My God, I could do laps in that thing. My toiletries had been refilled and fresh fluffy towels were ready for use on their stand. It was as if I'd never left.

I could not resist the temptation of a long shower right there and then. My muscles were sore from all the demands I'd put on my body so the hot water felt like a blissful caress. I carefully washed the dried blood away and shampooed my hair. My cuts still stung, and it was obvious I would be left with some ugly scarring on my thighs, upper arms and torso, but I tried to banish such thoughts from my mind for the moment. After taking full advantage of the hot water tank, I blow-dried my hair and pampered my skin.

I had just finished putting on a blue sundress and a pale yellow cardigan when I heard Jason's voice calling and rushed out of my bedroom. The look on my brother's face as he spotted me at top of the stairway was almost comical. I darted straight into his arms and engulfed him in a bear hug, pain be damned.

"Sook… Sookie…" he muttered in awe. It took him a moment but he finally responded to my embrace. "You're alive! Oh my God! Sookie!" He cried out. "We all thought you were dead… I… Oh Sookie, where were you? I can't believe you're here."

I'd broken our embrace to look him over and, couldn't hide my surprise. "You're a legit cop now?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, eying his very official-looking police force uniform. "You're done procrastinating for good?"

Jason looked proud as a peacock as he replied: "Yup! Passed the exam last year. I'm deputy now." His face turned serious once again. "But Sookie… where were you?"

"First of all, I need to ask you something: what is today's date?"

"Today? October twenty-first."

"Of what year?"

Jason looked at me as if I was crazy but answered me all the same: "2011."

God. I had been gone two and a half years. I'd been told that time moved differently in Fairy, but that was a hell of a lot of time to lose. Still, I wasn't gonna cry over a few lost months when I had escaped death, torture and a loveless marriage with a twisted brute (in increasing order of horror).

I took Jason's hand and pulled him towards the kitchen. We sat around the table and I proceeded to explain everything to him: where I'd been, and with whom. I glossed over the torture, just telling him that I'd been hurt when I'd stopped playing ball. I felt that he needed to know about our common ancestry and the dangers that came with it, for his own safety as well as mine. I didn't think any fairies would target him because he didn't have the essential spark, but he could be manipulated to further an agenda.

Jason listened to my long speech quietly but, once I'd stopped talking, it was clear he thought I'd been taking crazy pills. He asked me if I had been away in a cult, which, to be fair, was a pretty accurate characterization. It was only after I demonstrated my powers by making my hands glow and displacing a teacup across the table with a tiny bust of energy that he took me seriously.

"I'm a fairy?" he asked after he'd recuperated from the monumental shock. He sounded utterly appalled and I laughed out loud at his reaction.

"I had pretty much the same reaction as you when I found out. Technically, you're just a hybrid. The essential spark, which is the bit of magic that makes fairies what they are, isn't in you. Not that you should be sad about that. Fairies, as it turn out, are absolute lying a-holes, so you should count your blessings that they'll never seek to exploit you for your abilities."

"What'd they do to you, sis?" He asked thoughtfully.

I shrugged. "All you need to know is that they're dangerous and ruthless. They'll use you if they can." I was more than a little aware that this description applied to me too, after what I'd done to Keelan. "That's why you need to be vigilant. I know you have a weakness for pretty girls. Well, fairies are very pretty, and they can be very charming when they want too. You have to be on your guard."

Jason was about to interrupt me but I raised a hand to stall his objections. "All I ask is that you let me scan any potential conquests before you get involved with them."

"I'm with Crystal now, sis. Steady and all. We're good. I ain't dogging around no more."

For the next twenty minutes, I listened as Jason told me about his new life. His involvement with the notoriously inbred and secretive community of Hotshot worried me a bit, and I decided I would do some nosing around to check that he wasn't putting himself in danger. I asked him for news about our friends and wasn't totally surprised to hear that Tara had left Bon Temps. We had both a spell of bad luck in this town, and we'd both chosen to run away. As the conversation was dwindling, I noticed it was getting pretty late and sunset was fast approaching.

"Jas, there is something I need to do, for both our protection."

"What d'you need?"

"I need to perform a binding spell on you that would prevent you from speaking to anyone about our fairy ancestry, even under glamour. This is our family secret and it needs to remain just that. Fairies aren't the only ones we have to worry about. Vampires would do about anything to get their fangs on fairy blood—"

"Is that why vampire Bill was so obsessed with you?" he interrupted.

"Part of it was my blood, yes. He and Eric know what I am, but I have the situation under control when it come to those two." Or I would do soon.

"Okay. If you say so. So do what you need to do. Anything to keep you safe."

I gave my brother a grateful smile and took his hands. I chanted the relevant incantation and felt the spell take its hold.

"That's it?" Jason asked after it was over.

"Yup, that's it," I smiled.

"Cool… So, can you do, like, magic tricks?"

"Not really," I laughed. "I was only taught spells that were useful for warfare. For instance, the binding spell is used to prevent soldiers from spilling strategic secrets if they're captured. I can also prepare some basic healing potions and cast protection spells, which is handy to ward a military camp. Speaking of which, I'd like to come ward your house against ill-will tomorrow after I'm done doing mine. I'm too exhausted to do anymore heavy-duty magic today."

Jason looked thoroughly impressed, which was a nice change from his general annoyance about my telepathy, but then he frowned. "By the way, Sook, you're welcome to move in with me for as long as you need to. I'm really sorry I had to sell your house—"

"You sold my house!" I exclaimed. "What the hell are you talking about? Aren't you the one who did all the fixing up?"

"Naw! How d'you figure I could afford all that? I'd have to sell the house just to be able to pay the bills to fix it up!" Seeing my scowl, Jason reached out to me across the table. "Look, sis. You'd been gone for over a year—"

"And you thought you could use the money, right?" I cut in acidly.

"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that! What was I gonna do with a big empty house sitting there? I thought you were gone… it was just too sad."

I thought about how odd it was that everything had been preserved as if waiting for my return. "Who bought the place?"

"I dunno really. Some company named AIK or something. Paid cash and all."

I wanted to remind him that this house was his family heritage, and that he should have been a bit more concerned about who was acquiring it. What if they'd just decided to raze the house to the ground? But eventually I held my tongue because I didn't want to quarrel with him on ultimately trivial material things. Being with Jason, just talking to him and seeing his face, had completely lifted my spirits. I'd just escaped hell and I'd surprised myself by being able to laugh, and just talk, and be happy. I didn't think I could ever be that cheerful again, but I had underestimated my resilience.

"I love you Jason," I blurted out, suddenly emotional.

"I love you too, sis."

Our Kodak moment was interrupted by a banging on the front door. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. I knew exactly who that was, and I was none too pleased.

"All right," I muttered to myself. "Showtime."

AN: What did you think? Would you like to read more?