I've had this concept in my head since I started reading the books. However, since these characters are not mine, I need to give credit where it's due. Thank you, Charlaine Harris, for your hard work and for sharing your creativity. I hope that all of you enjoy this.
Sometimes I wonder how things ended up this way. I ask myself, "Sookie, are you out of your damn mind?" more times than I would like to admit. I suppose that things could be worse. At least Jason and I aren't the most hated people in Bon Temps. I may be crazy Sookie but since the vampires came out of the coffin, I'm not as scary to the locals as I used to be. Now I'm Sookie Stackhouse, graveyard keeper. I haven't quite figured out which one is worse.
You see, just as a Stackhouse has been living in the family home for generations, so have the Stackhouses guarded the graves of the recently deceased since the civil war. According to Gran's research with the Descendants of the Glorious Dead, grave robbery was common during and after the war. When every penny counted, people did what they had to do to get by. Stealing valuables off the dead could be a lucrative business. Not wanting to see such a thing happen to good people, my family began guarding the graves and have done so ever since. We live near the graveyard so it just seemed the natural thing to do.
Not to mention that working at Merlotte's doesn't exactly make ends meet all the time. Sam Merlotte is a good man and the bar isn't a bad place to work but a girl can only stand a leaky roof for so long.
It's a shame though. I never thought that I'd see the day I'd be sitting by Old Man Compton's grave. I had begun to wonder if he was going to live forever. Rumor had it that he was the oldest man in town. I don't know about the rest of Bon Temps but I wasn't about to question that claim. Mr. Compton certainly looked like the oldest thing in town. There was also talk that Mr. Compton had been buried with a few very valuable artifacts since he had no kin. The rest was going to be sold in an estate sale after church Sunday afternoon. It was going to double as a community memorial service hosted by the Bellefleur's. Ms. Caroline was a good friend of his back in the day.
If Gran were still alive then maybe I would've gone with her but without her, I didn't think that I would be able to handle being around all of those people. Being telepathic tends to make social calls more difficult than they should be. It's why I've never minded watching over the dearly departed. At least in death there's finally peace. Peace for the loved ones lost and peace and quiet for me. You try living a normal life when the "voices" within the minds of others never stop talking.
Besides, on a night like this, even if I wasn't watching over a grave, I would've been outside. The air was warm, the sky was clear and the moon and stars were shining so bright you could hardly tell what were stars and what were fireflies. It's magical. Like all those fireflies came to hold a glowing vigil for Mr. Compton.
As they say, all good things must come to an end. I felt the presence before I heard the footsteps. I tried to figure out who exactly would be dumb enough to come and rob the grave knowing I was here but came up empty. Literally. I couldn't hear anything coming from the mind of the could-be robber. It was a void. As silent as the graves around me.
Picking up my benelli, I pointed it in the direction of it.
"Hey!" I shouted. "You're trespassing."
"So are you," a voice replied. And what a voice it was. Confident, cold, and dripping with all the things a good girl should not be messing with. I won't deny that a little shiver went up my spine. I even wondered if he looked as handsome as he sounded. That didn't stop me from clicking the safety off, though.
"What's a sweet girl like yourself doing out here at this hour?" He asked.
"My job. Come any closer and I promise you, you'll see just how sweet I can be." I pressed the butt of the gun to my shoulder, and lightly rested my finger near the trigger. I could hear him chuckle a few rows away from me. He came into view but the light of the moon obscured his features. He was big. Much bigger than me and that's saying something. My safety zone was getting smaller by the second. Was he glowing?
"Your weapon doesn't frighten me."
"Well, unless you're some sort of haint come to escort Mr. Compton to the pearly gates, I can't let you come any closer."
I felt for the trigger and prepared to squeeze. That's when I noticed something odd. Other than the glowing. Please, let that just be an unusual play of the moon light. Somehow, I began to think that I wasn't going to be so lucky.
"You're not here to rob Mr. Compton are you?" I asked.
"What makes you say that?" He replied.
"Where's your shovel? I know that the moon is high tonight but, where's your flashlight? Either you're very new to this or you're not here to rob at all."
"Clever girl, aren't you?" He said with another laugh. I could feel my temper and my anxiety bubbling up. There wasn't anything funny about this. I could've shot him! Not that I had lowered my gun. If he wasn't here for the riches that Mr. Compton was buried with, what was he here for? This was bad.
"I don't suppose that I could convince you to lower your weapon, could I?" he asked. Do or die, Sookie. Any closer and I'd be within lunging distance. He took one step forward and I took one step back.
"Lower the gun." He commanded. I could see his face better now. Not only was he tall but he was a blonde with bright blue eyes. I tried to memorize his features. Not that it would matter if he killed me. I couldn't give the police a description of him if I was dead. Well, at least he was handsome.
"You will lower the gun." He said again. It wasn't a suggestion. He was staring very intently at me. That's when I felt it, like a breeze against my skin except inside my head. I stared back at him looking like a deer in headlights. Had he just tried to get into my mind? After a deep breath to compose myself, I smiled.
The strange man looked stunned for just a fraction of a second then his face became stony once again.
"You can't be glamoured. How interesting." He smiled back at me and that's when I noticed the fangs.
