What if Sookie had looked at the package Bobby brought her in Dead and Gone? This is the story of what might have happened if she had looked at the knife before giving it to Eric.

I do not own Southern Vampire series or any of its characters. Charlaine Harris holds the rights to them, I just like to come up with alternative scenarios.

Dead and Gone recap/summary of the conversation between Bobby and Sookie outside of Merlotte's:

"Here" Bobby said, "Eric said you would need this." He handed me a bundle wrapped in black velvet and tied with a gold cord.

"And what would this be?"

"I don't know I wasn't tasked with opening it."

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I said.

"Eric said, 'tell her to give it to me tonight, in front of Victor.'"

"All right," I said reluctantly. "Consider me messaged."


Bobby left and I looked down at the package. Well Bobby might not feel the need to open it, but I was certainly not going all the way to Shreveport, just to re-give Eric something he had delivered to me for Victor to see, without knowing exactly what I was giving. So I pulled the gold cord and opened the bundle.

Inside the black velvet sat an ancient looking knife. Something looked familiar about it, but it took me a moment to place it. Jesus Christ Sheppard of Judea! Ithought. The knife from Rhodes. But why does he want me to make a show of giving this back to him. I'd have to think on it for a while to figure out what this was supposed to mean.

I went back to work finishing everything I had to do at Merlotte's. I thought about what the significance of the knife was any time I had some down time to think, but couldn't figure out any logical explanation other than that it was used for weddings. Surely Eric wasn't trying to marry me, was he? He never does anything without a reason, so I knew it meant something.

By the time I finally got in my car to make my way to Fangtasia I still could come up with no other logical explanation beyond this was the marriage knife. As I got closer I could feel myself getting happier and it was getting harder for me to care at all about the knife. Damn blood bond!

I got to the door and Pam came around the podium to greet me.

"Sookie, so nice to see you" she greeted giving me a hug. "Did you bring the package?"

"Yes, I did. What exactly is the meaning of this?"

"So you looked to see what was in it I take it" she responded. "The 'meaning of this' is to cover your ass, and don't ever doubt that."

"Pam, this is used for vampire marriages" I took a deep breath. "Is this some kind of marriage proposal?"

"Never you mind. Just go into his office and offer him the package. And don't just toss it around like some Wal-Mart bag either." She pushed me back toward his office and returned to her position at the podium.

I am happy to say that even though it was hard for me not to just do what Eric wanted, because the blood bond definitely made it hard for me to feel suspicious of him, I didn't just give in that easily. I did walk straight back to his office. Pam didn't follow me. I suppose because she was irritated that I didn't just blindly do as they asked. I knew there was a reason to this, but I didn't know what it was and I wasn't just going to go along with this without some sort of explanation. I knocked on his door and heard him answer with a quiet 'come in'. When I entered his office and saw the look of anticipation on his face I couldn't help but fume. He had every expectation that I would just do as he said without question. I lost all thought of being rational.

After a flash of confusion in his eyes at my mood, it was immediately placed with a serene calm. He was trying to push the calm through the bond. I couldn't tell if he was trying to influence me or simply prevent a scene, but that didn't stop me from being angry at his cocky, high-handed attitude. The calm he tried to force just made me angrier.

"What exactly is this supposed to be?" I asked throwing my hand up to demonstrate the black bundle I held.

"I don't know Sookie, why don't you give it here for me to see" he stated in the most tranquil voice he could muster. He then gave me a pleasant smile and held out his hands.

"Don't play stupid with me. I don't know what you are playing, at but you can't just order me around, summon me here, and trick me into anything you want. You owe me an explanation!" To this point I hadn't even acknowledged Victor Madden sitting on the couch, but as soon as he cleared his throat Eric and I both snapped our heads toward him to see the smirk on his face.

"I apologize for my outburst" I told him nodding my head. "Good evening, sir," I acknowledged, then went back to glaring at Eric.

"Miss Stackhouse, you are looking radiant as always" Victor said smiling back and forth between Eric and me, and apparently ignoring my irritation. "Why don't you open the package and show us contents."

I pulled the cord once again and pulled out the knife, holding it up with my other hand. "Exactly what do you mean by asking me to come all the way out here after running the bar all day, just to 'bestow' this upon you?" I asked Eric. He was now making no attempt to hide his irritation with me. Unfortunately, he still wouldn't answer me at all. He just sat in his chair and glared at me.

"Well, Miss Stackhouse, I can only guess the Sheriff's plan was to have you pledged to him so that the matter we are here to discuss tonight could simply be taken off the table." I decided to take a seat in one of the chairs and motioned for him to continue. "The tiger has asked for an audience with you, and is seeking permission to enter Area 5 to do so."

"What does he want to talk to me about?" I asked. I broke up with Quinn the day after the takeover of Louisiana by the Nevada vamps, for his part in the plot. We didn't part on the best of terms, to say the least. I didn't particularly want to rehash things, I preferred to evade serious discussions, such as the one he certainly wants to have. But I have felt badly about the way I treated him, and have second guessed myself quite frequently about my decision to end things. Perhaps now was the time to pull up my big girl pants and act like an adult about it, if I really wanted to be taken seriously.

"I don't believe I asked him" Victor said smiling to me indulgently. "De Castro simply asked me to personally relay the message that Quinn would like permission to speak with you, he didn't give me the details of the topic." Eric had had enough of his silent brooding. He stood up abruptly, slamming his hands on the desk.

"Victor, this is my area and she is my bonded. He has no reason to speak with her. She dismissed him, he told me so himself." Eric was not happy this wasn't going the way he wanted.

I had a flash of regret for not giving him the knife as he instructed. It was possible that he had deeper plans that simply to keep me away from Quinn. But if I was ever going to stand up for myself and show him that I am not some simpleton that he can always get his way with, I had to start thinking for myself.

"Why don't we let Miss Stackhouse tell us how she feels, Sheriff" Victor told Eric pleasantly turning to me for my opinion. Eric sat back down slowly and waited to hear what I was going to say.

"I'll talk to him." I decided on the spot.

"Excellent" Victor purred. "I will tell De Castro. I'm sure Quinn will be delighted." With that he stood, said his goodbyes and made his exit. He took the knife with him to return to its rightful owner.

When Eric was sure Madden was out of hearing range he stood up, leaning over his desk, and started in on me. "What the hell Sookie! Do you have any idea what Victor and Felipe may do now that they think I have no say in what you choose to do?" Eric shouted. "Felipe De Castro would like nothing more than to have you for his own personal telepath. He would love to move you up to Nevada right along with Quinn and have you both all to himself." He took a long unnecessary breathe. "And when I try to prevent this, by giving them need to go through me first, what do you do? You defy me!"

"Well, shit." It was the only thing I could think of to say. I had no defense to that, so there was no need to try. I also began to realize how badly this must be for Quinn if he was still being held in Nevada as payment for his mother's mess.

"That's right, 'well shit'! Now what are you going to do Ms. Independent?" he said plopping back down in his chair. I didn't know if that was a rhetorical question or not so I didn't respond immediately, but Eric kept looking at me expectantly so I figured I should just be honest.

"Well right now I am going to go home and go to sleep. After that I'm going to continue running the bar for Sam until he gets back. I am meeting with Quinn since I already agreed, then I guess I'll have to figure something out."

"Where is Sam? Clancy told me the reveal went well in Bon Temps." I guess he decided to drop the topic of Quinn and Nevada. That was just fine with me.

"It did. But it didn't go so well for Sam's mom back home. Her husband shot her. So he's gone to take care of her and left me in charge." I was tired and ready to get to bed. I had to go back in the bar in the morning to get it ready to open and it was already going to be after 10 before I got home.

"Well I did everything I could. I had a vampire to cover every public place in my area. I personally went to the casino here in Shreveport to cover for Alcide."

"Did everything go ok there?"

"Yes only a couple people were any cause for concern. One woman even offered herself to Alcide in his wolf form." I shook my head.

"I am tired Eric, I'm going home" I told him standing up.

"Very well, but we will talk more about this, and soon." I just sighed. I hated it when he said that. I told him goodbye and Pam escorted me to my car.

"Well you have certainly outdone yourself this time haven't you?" she smirked at me. At least one person was amused.

"Yeah, Pam, I guess I have. I'll see you soon." I didn't wait for her to respond. I got in my car and drove away.

The drive home was long and uneventful. I had plenty of time to worry, but I was just too tired to make myself care about what the Nevada vamps were planning against me at the moment. I idly tried to formulate some kind of plan to prevent their attempted acquisition of me. Maybe I could talk to Niall and ask him for his opinion. He had been around enough to have some good advice on how to deal with vamp politics. Yeah. When I get up in the morning I'll call him first thing. Maybe he can meet me and help me figure out how to regain control of my life. I was definitely tired of being the human that the vamps love to order around.


A/N: Let me know what you think. If I continue this story it would follow the book Dead and Gone through the Fairy War.