Quinn and I were on the road to Red Ditch fifteen minutes after Remy called. I had to use my new fairy powers to be ready so quickly, and once he saw what I could do, he wanted to know about all my new powers.

"That thing you did with the outfit was really impressive, babe," he said as we started on our journey. "A real fairy trick. Amelia said you've got some other new powers, too?"

"Yeah, they all kind of activated at once. I'm pretty sure my great-grandfather did something to me before he left. It made me heal faster so I don't mind, but I had fairy nightmares for a couple of weeks afterwards, which weren't so nice. Eric helped me work out what they were and I can mostly control them now, praise the Lord."

"Your great-grandfather?"

I felt so comfortable around him that I let it slip without thinking. I debated telling him for a few seconds, then decided I trusted him enough to let him know.

"This is another one of my big secrets, Quinn. If I tell you this, you can't repeat it to anyone. The only other people who know this are Eric, Bill and Amelia. Well, and my brother, of course."

He glanced away from the road for a few seconds and looked me in the eye. "Your secrets are safe with me, babe."

"OK. Have you heard of a fairy called Niall?"

He nodded. "You mean the head honcho, Prince Niall? He's Sky blood and really powerful, that's basically all I know about him." Then he realized. "He's your great-grandfather? The fairy so powerful that vampires are scared of him?"

I nodded.

"Man, I knew you were part-fairy but I didn't know you were royalty. Amelia told me you were really powerful for someone who's only one-eighth fae, and if you're his descendant I know why. Fairies from the royal line are much stronger than regular fae. What powers have you got now? There's that thing you did with the ball of energy in Eric's office, but I'm guessing that's the least of it?"

"Well..." I hesitated. "I can give people jolts of pleasure, that's what I did in Eric's office. I can also do it with pain, but I hate doing it. Not just because I don't like hurting people, but also because the icky energy I use to do it kind of seeps into me a bit, and I feel rotten afterwards. The pleasure one's fun though."

"And?" He could tell I hadn't told him about all of my new powers.

"I guess I have to tell you all this so you can train me, but please don't repeat any of it. I'm not sure I want people knowing yet."

"Of course."

"Telekinesis and teleportation. Those are the others I've got now."

He just nodded and seemed to be thinking hard. "What's the biggest thing you've moved around telekinetically?"

I blushed. "Um, Eric," I admitted softly.

He stared at me. "You pushed around Mr Thousand Year Old Viking Vampire? What, you just held out your hand and pushed him out of the way, without even touching him?"

"Watch the road, Quinn." I waited until he did before I continued. "I kind of... threw him a couple of yards and stuck him to the wall, about a foot off the ground."

He looked at me again, studying my face to see if I was telling the truth. Then he burst out laughing. His laughter rumbled around in his chest, sounding almost like thunder. "Ohmigod, I would pay anything to watch that! Did Amelia see it?"

"She didn't see me do it, but she felt magic being used and ran downstairs to see what was happening."

"He was still stuck to the wall when she came down?"

I nodded.

"That must've been the funniest sight! Did she laugh?"

I nodded again.

"And yet, she's still alive. I take it you threw him around some more after that and he liked it?" he teased.

I blushed bright red.

He laughed again. "So Eric the Viking likes being thrown around the bedroom by a 120 pound mostly-human woman. That's the funniest thing I've heard all year."

"I'm more like 135, and I didn't say that."

"Fine, I didn't hear it from you," he grinned. "But seriously, he's what, 6'4"? And he's pretty built, if he was human he'd be about 200 pounds but vampires are heavier, so he's about 250? And you stuck him to the wall, a foot off the ground. Could he move?"

"No."

"So he was stuck there and couldn't move at all?"

"He twitched a bit."

"Oh, I'll bet he twitched, stuck to the wall like that. So if he was still there when Amelia came downstairs, he was there at least a minute or two. How long did it last all up?"

I was confused. "You mean, how long until I let him go? I guess it was about 15 minutes or so he was like that, although I let him move his arms again when I was sure he wasn't going to strangle me."

"Woah!" he exclaimed. "You mean he stayed right where you put him until you let him go?"

I nodded.

"And you were able to let just his arms go first, but the rest of him was still stuck to the wall, right where you put him?"

"Well, I moved him down to ground level first."

He gave me a funny look and his thoughts turned jealous.

"You and Amelia!" I rolled my eyes. "It wasn't a kinky sex thing, dirty minded people. I gave him a hug to apologize, because I'd just thrown him across the room and stuck him to the wall. I moved him to ground level so I could hug him without sticking my face in his crotch. Then, when I knew he wasn't mad any more, I let his arms go so he could hug me back."

"Well, that's a relief," he replied, a little too happily.

"No, I waited 'til later to use my new power for sexual purposes." I stuck my tongue out at him. I knew I was being immature, but I didn't want him asking about my sex life.

"OK, point taken, I'll stop commenting," he conceded. "So how long do things stay where you put them?"

"I don't know."

"You haven't tried sticking something to a wall and seeing when it fell down?"

"I did that. Just some clothes and books though, not a whole person. But Amelia got mad at me so I took them down again."

"How long had they been there?"

"Three days or so."

"Three days? And they were all still where you put them?"

I nodded.

"That's pretty impressive."

"Thanks."

"You said you can teleport, too?"

"Only short distances so far. I haven't tried to go further yet. But I've got the hang of teleporting my clothes with me now."

He laughed. "So you haven't tried teleporting anyone else with you?"

"Not yet. But Niall left a protective amulet for Amelia, so I can practice with her. She says the amulet's some pretty hardcore magic, and that if I teleported her and she came out the way my clothes did the first time, it would put her right."

"I didn't see her wearing it. You should tell her to keep it on all the time, protective amulets only keep you safe from surprise attacks if you have them on when someone sneaks up on you, when you're not expecting a fight."

"She was wearing it, you just can't see it. It sort of melted into her skin when she put it on. Well, it's really just glamoured so you can't see it, but it looked like it melted into her skin."

He suddenly looked very curious. "What does this amulet look like?"

"Some kind of dark colored metal with a big red stone in it. When I bestowed it on her, it glowed."

"A Dearg amulet?" he sounded amazed.

"I have no idea. Whatever it was, Amelia was really impressed. Said it was priceless, some token of respect that fairies give their most valued human helpers. She said it won't give her any magical power or make her immortal -"

He interrupted, "- but it'll protect her from almost anything that could injure her. Most magic won't work on her, and any harm that befalls her through accident or malice will be undone immediately. She'll age naturally but she's unlikely to get sick, either. The amulet takes care of most pathogens and poisons. It's an incredibly powerful thing."

"Yeah, that's what she said about it."

"Why would Niall leave one of those for Amelia? What's she done to earn that kind of respect from him?"

"Honestly? I think it's so she can train me to use my fairy powers. I don't think she could do it without some sort of protection."

"That makes sense. I would guess he left some other things to help her, too?"

"A couple of books and a few objects. If I can master all the things he left me, she said I'll be able to defend myself really well."

"That's good to know."

"Exactly. I figure, if Amelia teaches me to use my fairy powers and the magical objects Niall left me, and you teach me to fight, I should be able to take care of myself in most situations."

"You will. I was planning to teach you to use your telepathy to anticipate your opponents' moves. Even if an opponent's much stronger than you, you can still beat them with speed and strategy. Your telepathy can help with both. I'll have to think some more about how you can use telekinesis, teleportation and those pain jolts, but they'll give you a real edge, too."

"My telepathy doesn't work on vampires though, and even Weres and shifters are difficult."

"Well, defending yourself against humans was my first priority."

I rolled my eyes. "I can take care of myself with humans, Quinn. I was a barmaid for years, I don't need self-defense 101."

"Babe, there are some really nasty humans out there. We need to make sure you can deal with them first."

"I can," I snapped. "I've been targeted by the Fellowship for years and I'm still here. They hardly even scare me any more."

"That's not a good thing. You never know what they might do next."

"Look, you don't know my history with the Fellowship. They can't do much to me that they haven't tried already."

"No, I don't know everything, but humans are capable of some pretty terrible stuff."

"What, like crucifying me? That's the latest one they tried."

He laughed out loud, then suddenly stopped. "You're serious?"

I nodded. "When my sister-in-law was crucified out the back of Merlotte's by Lochlan and Neave a few months ago, some idiots thought 'what a great idea' and went to Home Depot for some lumber so they could do the same to me, the local fangbanger. It only upset me because I used to be friends with one of the people, and because the assholes shot an FBI agent who has kids."

"How did you get out of it alive?"

"I read their minds and figured out what they were up to. I've helped one of the local cops a few times so when I called him and told him what I knew, he came. He brought these FBI agents who were sent to recruit me after Rhodes."

"You don't even sound upset about it."

"I've been through worse."

"God, I didn't know. What else did they do to you?"

I sighed. "It's a really long list."

"It's 45 minutes 'til we get to Red Ditch. There'll be plenty of time."

"I'll give you the quick version."

He looked stunned. "The quick version will take 45 minutes?"

I nodded and started recounting it all. I told him about the serial killer who killed my Gran and almost killed me, just because I was dating a vampire. I told him about being locked in the basement of the Fellowship's compound in Dallas and almost raped by one of their thugs, but saved by a suicidal vampire. I told him how the Fellowship showed up at a vampire's nest and shot everyone, but I survived because Eric shielded me with his body and took a bullet for me. I told him how a Fellowship nutjob staked me in a vampire bar in Jackson - me, one of the few humans in a room full of Supes - and how Eric healed me with his blood. I mentioned the bombing in Rhodes, but didn't need to explain because he was there. I told him I'd probably forgotten something along the way, but that was most of the stuff the Fellowship had tried.

When I finished, he stared at me for far longer than I would've liked, considering he was driving, before he spoke.

"God, I didn't know you'd been through so much. I knew you were strong, but you must be about ten times tougher than I thought you were to get through all that OK. I won't insult you with Self-Defense 101, I guess you're way past that already."

I shrugged. "That's just the stuff the Fellowship have tried," I replied darkly. When he looked at me curiously, I quickly added: "Some other time. I'm not in the mood."

He was quiet for a while, thinking. "Eric's saved your life a lot of times, hasn't he?" he asked eventually.

I nodded. "He's taken a few bullets for me, and he's healed me by giving me his blood a few times too."

"No wonder you're so attached to him. Amelia said it was just a sex thing." He sounded worried.

"She's half-right," I admitted. "Sex and saving each other's lives. That's about it. Most of the time, we can't have a conversation without screaming at each other."

"You saved his life?"

"A couple times. I woke him up and helped him get out at Rhodes. Then a few weeks ago I ran over this huge nasty vampire that was about to kill him and de Castro. And I hid him from some witches for a while when they cursed him and he wasn't as tough as usual, although he was in more danger of being enslaved than dying then." My voice trembled as I talked about that time.

He gave me an enquiring look, but didn't say anything. We were both silent again for a while. When we were about 10 minutes from Red Ditch, he finally spoke again.

"I'm so sorry I added to that list. You got dragged into de Castro's takeover because of me, and I'm really sorry about that."

"It was Eric's fault as much as yours," I said dismissively. "They were after him and he turned up at my place."

"I still did the wrong thing and I'm still sorry," he insisted. "I thought I was doing the right thing, avoiding you when I was in trouble, but I really underestimated you. You're as tough as I am in most ways, and I didn't give you credit for that. The timing was awful, too. You said you couldn't be with me unless I had time for you and I promised to take a month off to be with you... and I just disappeared instead. I can't imagine what you must've thought when I did that."

"I didn't know what to think," I admitted. "I tried not to feel hurt about it, but..." I trailed off.

"Sorry. I just made it worse by showing up at your place that day when I fought with Bill, didn't I? I gave you a hard time for not giving me a chance, but I never gave you a chance either. If I told you what was going on in my life, you would've been there for me, wouldn't you?" He stared at me, waiting for an answer.

"We can't ever really know that. But I wouldn't dump someone just because their life's messy and complicated. I'd be a total hypocrite if I did."

"Well, I'm not going away again. I don't care if you're with me or not, I'll be part of your life from now on. I promise."

"Please don't," I shook my head. "You're here for a month and I'll enjoy having you around, but please don't make promises."

He looked puzzled for a minute, then figured it out. "People break their promises to you."

"Men break their promises to me, Quinn. Especially men I've slept with. Going by past experience, when a man promises me something to get in my pants, it's not true and it's not going to happen."

"OK, no promises," he conceded. "I'll be here though."

"I'd like that," I admitted. I did enjoy having him around.