I do not own anything that as to do with True Blood or Charlaine Harris' books (because I don't think I'm capable of such GENIUS work!). The only thing that's mine is Delphine and the plot of this story.

ENJOY!

WILDFIRE

Ch.1 Ashes

She'd finally finished packing all her boxes at 10h30 on a saturday night. Not that she was complaining. She really wanted to get the hell out of this town and it was the primary reason as to why she had spent the entire day packing. It would be so much easier when she'd finally get away from this place.

Delphine got up from her bed and grabbed the Sharpee on her nightstand. Scrawling the word SHOES in big cursive letters on the cardboard box, she let herself fall back on her bed with a loud sigh. It was finally over. She could finally breathe. Having worked on packing all day, she pushed herself further up on the bed and kicked the box to the floor so she would have the space to herself.

''I can't wait to get out of here. This isn't working.'' She sighed again, closing her eyes. ''Great. I'm talking to myself.''

She opened her eyes again when she heard a faint ring. She when she recognized MGMT's Electric Feel, she jumped off her bed in search of her cell phone.

''GOSH DARN IT!'' the room was full of boxes and she could swear it was coming from one of them. She must have dropped it in one of the box while she was packing.

Pulling up the sleeves of her oversize white flannel shirt, she made her way towards the ringing box hoping that she could answer it before it went to voicemail. She ripped the tape and dug in pushing aside her pyjamas to find her cellphone at the bottom of the box.

She flipped it open. ''Hello?''

''About time girly girl! You all packed? ''

Her friend Gwen was on the line and Delphine remembered that she promised her she'd go out with her before she left the next day.

''Yes, all packed. So where are we going?'' The only reason Delphine was going out was out of courtesy. She hated crowded places, especially clubs. If it had been for her, she'd have met her friends for a simple goodbye before leaving tomorrow and then she'd be gone. Not that she didn't love them. Quite the opposite. She just didn't want to be around people right now.

''I thought we could try that little vampire bar downtown. You up for it?''

Delphine froze and hesitated before answering. '' I feel like something quieter tonight.'' The LAST thing she needed right now was to be around vampires.

''Okay well let's go to Maddy's then. It's not too loud and we'll have some fun. The guys really want to see you before you leave tomorrow.''

''Ok.'' She finally said. ''That sounds nice. Give me 15 minutes and I'll be at your place.''

''Perfect! See you!''

''Bye.'' Delphine hung up. Fifteen minutes was all she needed to get ready and get to Gwen's place one block down the street.

She grabbed a nice sparkly top and a pair of clean jeans that she had purposefully not packed and went in the little bathroom adjoining her room to change and get ready. All she needed to do was let her russet hair loose from the tight bun she wore and they fell in loose waves over her shoulders and down her back. After playing with her hair until she was satisfied of the way they looked, she applied a little dark pencil under her eyes which made the green pop out even more and put blush on her cheeks. The whole process had taken 5 minutes and she knew that walking down to Gwen's place would take another 5 minutes. So if she did the math right, that gave her another 5 minutes to calm down and breathe.

Come on Del. You can do this. It's only a night out. You'll be gone tomorrow. You won't have to come back.

But the words seemed to mean nothing to her anymore. A tear strolled down her cheek and she wiped it away smudging her black pencil in the process.

''Great.'' Delphine shook her head, got up and reapplied some pencil before walking out of her room. She grabbed her brown cowboy boots and went outside. It was still warm and she was thankful for that.

After walking down for about a minute, she felt someone following her. Delphine stopped in her tracks and spun around. A tall man was staring at her from across the street. He was dressed all in black and was wearing a black cowboy hat. Delphine finally breathed out when she recognized him. He saluted her with his hat and she knew he was saying goodbye because he wouldn't be able to come by tomorrow when the sun would be out.

Delphine smiled at him and a second later he was gone. When she turned around to continue down the street, her heart felt a million times heavier and she felt like she was dragging herself to Gwen's house. She REALLY needed to get out of this town.

She finally reached Gwen's door after what seemed like hours and felt like she had drained most of her energy.

''HOLA GIRL!'' The tall skinny blond that opened the door jumped on Delphine.

''Hi Gwen.'' She hugged her back.

''You look so pretty! We're gonna have so much FUN! Tell me again why you gotta leave my sorry ass here and move to this little hick town?''

''Gwen… I told you before. I don't wanna talk about it.'' They made their way to Gwen's kitchen and sat down.

''This is because of that vampire right?

She frowned at her friend. ''He wasn't just some vampire. He was my friend!'' She shook her head when Gwen sighed.

''But he's dead. It doesn't mean that you have to leave!''

''You don't understand Gwen. You can't understand. This place doesn't feel right anymore. I gotta leave.''

''Whatever. Maybe you just need a change. But why are you moving over there?''

''I had family in Bon Temps. An aunt who passed away a year ago. She left her house to my mom and she can't bring herself to sell it to anyone. So I just thought it was a good opportunity.''

''As long as you invite me once in a while, we can have a girly night and watch movies with Brad Pitt, I forgive you.''

Delphine couldn't help but smile. '' Of course. You're always welcome.''

'' OKAY then! Let's party!'' Next thing she knew, Delphine was dragged away from the kitchen by her friend.

The morning after wasn't so easy. Gwen had insisted that she take a shot of tequila to celebrate her last night in Dallas. But one shot led to two and then to three and so on. So now, Delphine was packing the back of her pick-up truck with a mild headache wondering why the hell she had agreed to go out last night.

Delphine did not look back when she left Dallas and drove until she saw a ''Welcome to Louisiana'' sign. She stopped at some shabby diner and thanked the lord that it was almost empty. This place was full of little towns and when an outsider arrived, everybody knew. Delphine wasn't especially subtle with a pick-up truck full of boxes and was grateful that no one bothered her at the diner.

After her short stop at the diner, Delphine drove until she reached Bon Temps. For some reason, the low trees hanging over the dirt path she was driving, the humid air and the smell that entered the car through the open window made her feel at home and peaceful. She smiled , something she hadn't done in a while, a kept going until she turned a corner and saw another path. It led to a beautiful white house. Delphine was shocked. She had seen photos of her Aunt Maggie's plantation type home but she never knew it would look like this. It was big but not as big as some plantations she had seen on her way there, it had big white columns in front which made the white house look even bigger. The window shutters were green and the path leading to the house was surrounded by wild flowers and weeping willows.

When she parked her truck outside the house, Delphine took her time to examine her surroundings and realised that for the first time in a long time, she felt happy. She had a beautiful house to herself that was already all paid for which was more than she could say for most 25 year old girls she had met.

Unpacking went by very fast. All Delphine had to do was drop the boxes in the rooms where they would go. Her room was on the second floor of the house and her window gave on the front lawn where she had a beautiful sight of the path leading to the house. The house had four rooms on the second floor. She decided to take the biggest one for her room, the others would be used as an office, a guest room and her art room. The bathroom upstairs was big and Delphine couldn't wait to use the bathtub.

On the first floor was the kitchen, the dining room, a big living room and a second bathroom but this time with only a shower. There was also a small room at the back of the living room that she could use as storage or as an office.

Since her aunt had given everything to her family when she died, all her appliances were still there so Delphine didn't have to buy anything. Her mother had insisted that she take the house because she didn't want to sell it and she wanted it to stay in the family. She was an only child so this was something really important to her mother.

The sun was setting and Delphine heard the sound her belly made and she realised that she hadn't had anything to eat for hours. It was late and she doubted that she would find a grocery store opened at this time so she decided to try to find someplace decent to eat.

She drove for a while and when she waited for a car to pass at a STOP sign, she heard a couple of girls signing inside and decided to follow them. They were probably heading into town. Maybe she'd find a place to eat there.

After a while, they turned onto another path and Delphine saw a big illuminated sign that said Merlotte's. It looked like a decent enough place but there were a lot of cars parked out front and she was not in the mood for crowds but it was late and she doubted she'd find anything better.

Delphine parked next to a small yellow car and got out.

Well, here I go.

Oooookay! This is just the beginning. This chapter was really just an introduction to why Delphine moved to Bon Temps. Don't worry. You're all going to understand what's going o soon enough!

R&R! …. Please. ;)