Prologue

Bad choices lead to even worse consequences

The blood, thick and ruby red, is dripping from my cherry lips, down my chin, slowly and temptingly following the curves of my throat and down the valley in-between my full breasts. My yellow sundress is ripped apart here and there, showing my black sport shorts underneath and most of my long creamy legs. I'm bare footed, due to the fact that my five-inch heels with straps turned out to be quite uncomfortable during a battle. My hair, still tied in a French braid, is hanging loosely over my left shoulder, its edges covered in dried blood. 'Mother fuckers! ' I hiss mentally as I dispose of the drained, half ripped body in my left hand, tossing it near the old oak tree which has been splashed with so much blood tonight that it has turned pinkishly red. I look around the meadow which had been hosting tonight's 'major' event – the torturing of a vampire; and not an ordinary one – a fucking pureblooded one! , and sigh as I shake my head slowly. Those brainless idiots wanted to let Ian fry under the merciless rays of the rising sun, thinking that his true death would make all of us submit. Morons! If he had died tonight, we would have surely come back for vengeance, and it would have been a ruthless one. But their pitiful attempt this evening was in vain as we managed to find out what they were planning beforehand and prevent them from having the upper hand. It's a good thing we have, as they call them, spies.

My sensitive senses don't detect any movements from the breathing weaklings…mostly because there are non-left. We got carried away during the saving of Ian and killed them all. As I look around now and remember how fiercely the humans fought back I come to the conclusion that the co-existence, which that subversive bitch Flanagan babbles so much about, will turn out to be a complete failure. Nobody begged for their life, not that we would spare them, but still they didn't look like deluded or surprised bunch of people which makes me think that all this was just a trap for us to come and attack them. However it turned out to be a complete downfall for them, but I must admit that their will, or most likely imposed principles, made me wonder how much were they willing to sacrifice for their so called 'cause'?

"That was quite… uplifting." says Mack as he sweeps the blood from his chin with somebody's black chiffon mantle, which now looks like a cheap rag.

"We were not here to have fun, Mack." I remind him casually as I give the meadow another criticizing look.

"Yes, but one doesn't preclude the other." He whines quietly, as he sees that I'm giving him the nasty look. "Fine, fine. Let's leave."

With that and a last look at the bloody slaughterhouse covered in corpses left behind, we vanish like we were never there.

Ian isn't happy about the mess we left behind us, and I don't blame him. The bloodshed in San Diego is still running all over the news in USA, if not even whole America. Every single reporter says that nobody has ever seen such a bloodbath before. Of course Nan Flanagan tries, vainly, to make people believe that it wasn't our kind's fault. Well, I'm sure that she and the Authority are having Ian by the balls and until they get a confession out of him what actually happened and why did it happen they'll just continue to lie to the humans.

As a Sheriff of area 14 Ian is having a lot of responsibilities, one of which is to keep his vampires in check. So a mass murder leads to a black points for him and our area as whole in the notebook of the Authority. The Queen of California – Samantha, was so pissed that she threatened to, I quote "…rip somebody's fangs out and stick ém in his white ass!" if we don't fix the mess soon. Yet Ian keeps quiet and tries to explain what had happened without blaming us.

It's been a week since the massacre but things are still heated up. The local and national news are still talking about it, some people are even more enraged, while others are full of fear. I know that Samantha has offered Ian a deal in order for this charade to stop -if he wants the Authority and all the other Sheriffs to calm down he has to offer them some kind of a deal. He didn't tell us what that meant, or what were we - his most trusted team - supposed to do but his choice, or the lack of one, stayed unquestioned by us.

"They are either going to kill him or make him leave his post!" words like these could be heard around whole San Diego and its adjacent counties. Those filthy rumors made most of us even angrier but Ian was explicitly clear – even if one human dies of the hand/fangs of a vampire, heads will roll. So as much as we could we tried to stay calm and make sure that all the other vamps knew where they stood. As I had predicted they wanted to trick our Sheriff into a disadvantageous deal. But I never knew how bad things could become, until they did.

I am sitting in the library, reading a novel, trying to pray away from my troublesome thoughts when the Sheriff comes in. I leave the book immediately and rise to my feet, bowing my head slightly in respect and avoiding direct eye contact.

"Sit, my child." He says and I feel cold shivers run down my spine. It has been near a century since he last called me that. And his voice sounds so… tired.

I do as I am told; forth seeing what will come next. I have known Ian for over seven centuries and I am sure that trouble is knocking at our door. His skin looks paler than usual; he has dark circles under his eyes, his usually neatly pulled back black hair is now messy … as whole he looks broken and in a desperate need of some sleep. He smiles sadly and sits next to me.

"I know the things I'm about to say won't be on your liking, but I ask you to listen to me carefully, childe, and know that I'm doing this in order to save you."

After that is said he tells me what has happened during the meeting with the Authority, about what they wanted and how he had to lead the battle on his own. Nobody wanted to believe that we just wanted to save him, nor that the lives taken in between the process of finding and saving were indirect victims. They all needed a scapegoat and the only one who could be blamed was Ian. They really wanted to trick him, but he managed to slip away the first time. So they came up with a cruel, yet efficient, plan B – to hit where it hurts. The deal was quite simple – my life for his. He declined that, offering his own life in order to save mine, but they didn't want to hear it. Seeing where things were going to he decided to make a compromise – they would spare my life, but I was obliged to leave Area 14 and go to Dallas, where I was supposed to serve the local Sheriff. My maker was going to leave his place in the society and never be able to regain it…. but would stay alive eventually. That is all I needed to hear.

"I'll do it." are my final words before I excuse myself and disappear into the hallway, leaving my father behind. The long and old corridor was empty and silent. The only thing that could be heard is the rhythmical clatter of my high heels as I hurry away from the library. My heart is clenched and the emptiness of the mansion makes me feel even worse. 'If only there was a way…'

I meet my brother in the kitchen where he is making himself a quick snack. We usually feed from donors or animals in the nearby woods, but every once in a while we drink the syntactical blood-shit –in-a-bottle. My stomach makes a flip when I catch the distinctive smell of chemicals.

"Man, I'm hungry!" he roars facetiously and peaks at me from behind his shoulder.

I don't look at him as I sit on one of the chairs that are situated round the table and pat the empty spot next to me. It takes Jason a few seconds but when he feels the sudden change in atmosphere he takes the free seat and looks at me. My hands are tightly clenched into one another on the table and only when my brother places his hands atop of mine I notice that I am shaking. And then the questions start to bombard me as a bunch of high-tech rockets. With every passing second I understand why I have to leave and why I should not tell my most beloved ones a single thing. All of the questions my brother asks stay unanswered and hang in the air between us.

"I cannot tell you much but you must promise me one thing, Jason." I grab his hands and look him in the eyes. His blue orbs stare at me and like all the shock and fear in the world could be seen there. My jaw clenches as I see and feel all the pain my brother feels at this moment. 'I can't! I just can't put him through all this! ' I squeeze my eyes for a second and when I open them I have made my mind. I may be the older sibling but I can't count all the times he has come and saved my sorry ass from trouble… which is ironic having the fact that he is the one who always gets involved in fights. I squeeze his hands again and smile encouragingly.

"Everything is going to be fine. Just forget about me."

"What!? Have you gone nuts?" I feel that he's about the blow his top, so I say what I have to say before he gets the floor and starts explaining why it is a bad idea to do what I am going to do.

"I need to leave, brother, and I expect you to take care of things here while I'm away. And no, you cannot come with. Just have some faith!" I cup his pale face. He looks like somebody has ripped his hearth out. The sparks in his eyes disappear right in front of me and it breaks my heart to see him leaving all hope. I take a deep breath and make a weak attempt to smile at the blonde male. He only shakes his head.

"You are one hell of a troublemaker, ya know!?"

"I know… but you're the one to tell!"

"Hah! You betcha'!"

The plane's turbines are the only noise that keeps me in this reality. I feel broken, like somebody has tossed me in a silver cage, not letting me out, laughing over my miserable attempts to break free. The conversation with Ian, the last we had actually, is still spinning in my head so clearly that it's like I'm reliving it all over again.

He doesn't look me in the eyes. His head is bowed down, like in shame, and he keeps quiet for more than a minute. I want to ask him so many questions, yet I don't find it proper to interrupt somebody's privet thoughts like that. But soon the silence is broken by a low, quiet sigh. Ian lifts his head, his brownish eyes staring right at me, full of desperation and sadness. I only manage to inhale, before he starts speaking, making my throat tighten painfully and leave no place for air once the meaning of the words sinks in.

'I know you may hate me for this, but you must do as I say. You're taking the next plane to Tucson, Arizona where a car will be waiting for you. It will take you in a hotel near Benson. Right after sunset you'll take another plane that will drop you off near Dallas. A black SUV will take you from there and drive you to the nest.' The words leave his mouth so fast that before I can comprehend their meaning, he starts speaking again.

'The Sheriff there, Godric, will welcome you in his nest and you'll obey all his needs and commands like I had given them to you. No one must know what happened here, Sookie, not even your brother, so you'll leave all traces of your life up until now here, in San Diego. Bury them so deep that nobody would even dare to look for them. Do as I say, my dearest, so that you would continue your path unharmed.'

There is another brief pause, giving me the time to digest most of the information and the fact that now I'm supposed to leave my family and go somewhere else. But just like the previous time, my maker starts talking before I can even ask some questions.

'He promised to take care of you. If I had another choice, dearest, I'd have even scarifies myself, for you to not leave your home like this. I ask for your forgiveness, being fully aware that I do not deserve it, given the fact that my bad decisions reflect on you and your well-being. And I truly hate myself for that. But you are strong. I believe in you – you'll make it through!'

With that his speech ends as well as a chapter of my life. It's been quite a long one, but it comes to a sudden and irreversible end. A tragic one, to be exact. The silence of the room is deafening, but I hold my ground, not wanting his last image of me to be all puffy, crying and broken. I hold it all in, locking it away in a small box, hidden deep into my mind.

'Now exhale….' Are my last thoughts before I leave.

It all happens as Ian said – the plane, the car, the hotel, most of the time it was like I wasn't even there. Those unknown to me men lead me, drove me, watched me but I could care less what they did, as long as they left me alone in my little craziness. They didn't show even a bit of interest towards me nor did I towards them. I felt so shattered and lonely, that them being there was the only string keeping me from drowning in my own misery. Yet again I kept my ground and my emotionless mask on whenever there was somebody near me. Giving a plain human the opportunity to see you so broken is like trembling in front of a hungry tiger – a sign of fear may be your downfall.

They got me on my plane to Fort Worth at 6pm sharp. I was in my sun proof coffin, of course, waiting for the huge fire ball, heading west to set and for me to rise. The sleep didn't came to me, not even once and I felt thankful, despite knowing that I need my rest and strength if anything was about to happen. The thought itself that when I close my eyes I'd see my brother's broken expression or my maker's shattered heart left me trembling. So the only logical solution was to stay awake or at least halfway.

Now, almost at the end of my journey, the only thing keeping me from crumbling down is the little faith I have left. A spark of hope that one day my maker will come for me and end my misery. Because I'm sure that my abidance in Dallas isn't going to be even the bit of joyful. I'm no fool, hovering in the clouds and thinking that my life there will be good and easy. Even now I can picture the dirty looks they will give me the second I walk in that nest of theirs. 'It will sure be one hell of a ride, Sook!' I laugh at myself as I stare out of the window at the starless sky. It's all foggy and dark, just like I feel now. I shake the dark thoughts away and look lower – at the city I'm about to land in, and wonder what'd happen if I just vanish. Yet that stupid hypothesis sound like a complete madness, knowing that the second the Authority finds out I'm gone Ian will be burnt at the stake for edification.

Ok, so this is the prologue of my newest story which is almost finished btw... I'd really like to know what you think! Yada-yada-yada ... i own nothing but the plot and Sable... Don't mind some foolish mistakes you may find in here... seriously - don't/