Disclaimer- I do not own the Southern Vampire Novels because I am not Charlaine Harris. I also don't own the Trueblood episodes…because I'm not Alan Ball. :) I do however own the plot of this fanfiction. All characters (so far) have been 'borrowed' for this fanficiton.
A/N – Hi all, big thanks to y'all who left me a review. Keep 'em coming! This chapter might be slightly slow but I think Sookie and the gang need that slow gentle opening so that the scene is set for upcoming action. Also, a huge huge thanks to my very talented editor Cherry10403. :)
Chapter 1
SPOV
Flashback – 2 months ago
"When you came in, the air went out..."
Just like me, Jason really didn't have a single aptitude for singing. Good thing he didn't sing to his 'friends with benefits'-a.k.a. his pathetic, desperate girlfriends- or he'd go straight from being Jason the Stud to Jason the Dud.
"I don't know who you think you are, but before the night is through..."
I sighed and reluctantly opened my eyes. Apparently my wake up alarm was now 'Bad things' sung very badly indeed by my charming older brother. "Jason! Shut UP!" I hollered in his general direction.
'No chance, sis...' He didn't say it out loud, but of course I knew what was about to come, and as a loud torrent of the chorus wrung at my ears, I yanked my cotton ear buds from the shelf above my bed and scuttled back into my covers.
If Jason wanted to be brat and sing at seven in the morning he could be my guest. Heck, he was technically my guest. Since Gran died, the house legally belonged to me, but I think Jason liked being here and I didn't really have the stamina or the heart to kick him out ... even if he did wake me up every morning ritualistically with his terrible singing. Besides, he visited much more often now and I cannot deny that it was a bit of a comfort to me. Not that he needed to know that.
"Sookie! Yo Girlfriend. Get up."
"Ohh Soookie!"
"SOOK! Get the hell up, I'm back to boring Bon Temps!"
Oh. Amelia was back. Amelia was back. My eyes shot open and at the foot of my bed stood my all-time best –but hardly in town- friend. Her black hair was its usual thick and glossy self. Unlike me she was an obsessive neat freak, but this was a benefit to her, because she liked to be the most immaculately dressed whomever she is with. Well in my case, even a tramp would be looking more presentable than me at that moment in time.
Amelia was-again unlike me- tall and exceedingly popular. I wouldn't be surprised at all if she was actually hanging out with the Olsen twins on her trips to Miami! Even Jason -who used to tease the hell out of her- says that she's gone from being the oddity of Bon Temps, to the jewel of Louisiana. Obviously her father, Lord Broadway -a multi billionaire- had a huge role in her bringing up, but I have yet to meet a more down-to-earth person. Despite our differences, her and I clicked right from when she started Bon Temps High as a freshman.
She squealed as I shot her a sleepy smile, and crushed me to her. You'd never think she was that strong, but I could hardly breathe in her grasp. Jason walked in then, and leaned in the doorway, one outstretched hand on the doorframe for support. Amelia spun around and practically jumped onto Jason as she hugged him.
"Trip was good then?" Jason queried, his eyes sparkling. I restrained a massive eye roll at his subtlety.
"Oh my gosh you have no idea..." I smiled inwardly at Jason's pained look. Yup, we both knew that now there was no escape from it; we were about to be launched into a minute-by-minute description of Amelia's trip to New Orleans, from Miss-I-only-talk-in-long-sentences-Broadway, herself. Hell, I didn't need to read her mind—she would probably tell us all of that as well! I got comfortable on my bed as both of them joined me, and we started to listen patiently to my second favourite person in the world, the first person being-of course- Jason.
…..
By the time Amelia had finished with her tale, it was 11:30; two long, painful hours had passed. By then Jason and I had learnt a great deal about Amelia's new coven. Yes, I said coven- that's right Amelia belongs to a coven in New Orleans. You see, just like me, Amelia also has her little secret. Where mine is kind of annoying (I mean who likes someone intruding on their personal thoughts-right?) hers is totally awesome. She practises magic. A witch basically. She only discovered her talent about a year back, when she fortuitously turned her boyfriend-of-the-time into a cat. Since then she's been trying to rectify that mistake. To be honest with you, the cat was more adorable than the boyfriend ever was.
In New Orleans, Amelia had met a woman by the name of Octavia Fant. This information came straight from her brain; usually I'm a pro at blocking her and Jason out, but Amelia is an extremely loud broadcaster, and I was taken off guard at Amelia's sudden return so I wasn't being my usual self. It didn't matter most of the time anyway, because whatever Amelia thought soon came out of her mouth in no time. In this instance however, Amelia hadn't said a word, and I realised my little hiccup as she shot me a confused glance before telling us more about Octavia.
Apparently Octavia was a very powerful witch and coven leader, who was going to aid Amelia in her attempts to regain her boyfriend's original human form. Jason and I shared a bemused look at that. Last time Amelia had met 'a powerful witch' by the name of Willow, they had managed to turn the poor cat-boyfriend into a chimp-boyfriend. Maybe they intended on leaving the poor guy for a few centuries until he evolved...what the hell Sookie! Anyhow I'm Christian! We don't believe in evolution. Or do we? Huh, I'll have to ask the Rev on Sunday…
I was brought out from my internal musings when Amelia yelled, "Sook I'll be down in twenty, you guys better not start eating without me!"
"Sure thing Millie, you take your time. Sookie here will russell up something delicious for all of us to eat! Won't you Sook?" my moronic brother replied, clapping me on the shoulder and effectively making me trip over the last few steps and onto the carpeted floor.
"Jason…make yourself useful and get the toaster out. The waffles are in the second compartment in the fridge." I was a little bit miffed at Jason's clumsiness, and was certainly not prepared to make brunch (breakfast and lunch since it wasn't the correct time to be eating either) all on my own. He grumbled and complained, but then shuffled off in his completely caked-with-mud shoes towards the other side of the table island to retrieve the items.
I put the filtered coffee on the table and started on the chicken salad. I'm a bit of a health freak, but you kinda have to be when your friend owns the only boutique this side of Louisiana. Tara and I had gone to elementary school together, but then in the middle of 8th grade, her family moved to Seattle for a while, and only recently she came back to start a clothing business in the backwaters town of Bon Temps. My cousin, Hadley, and herself were real tight, and when Tara left, strange things started happening to Hadley… until at seventeen, Hadley just disappeared.
If Hadley were here though, she would have absolutely adored the boutique, 'Tara Togs'. It stocked some very classy dresses and the wonderful owner made me trial all the new designs. So like I said, I kinda need to be ship-shape and hot-n'-happening. Okay, well not quite, but you get the idea.
Jason arrived back at the kitchen table, this time with a plate heaped with golden-brown toasty looking waffles, humming that damn song again under his breath. I turned the gas off, scooped the salad into one of gran's china dishes, grabbed some forks and sat down. I was just about to yell at Amelia to hurry up, when she glided down the staircase. Literally glided. She can do that now with all the training she's had. In my eyes it's just a few steps until she'll be flying…
Between munches, Amelia told us about her countless muck-ups with spells, and wards, and her umpteen dates. Jason enjoyed that part the most, since he was into girls as well.
"Millie, at least speak in hushed tones. I'll bet he still understands English!" I tried to reason with her. Really someone had to keep her level headed, right? And since I couldn't join in with any discussions about dates, I usually took the role of the 'party-pooper'.
Millie looked around guiltily, as if expecting her cat-boyfriend to suddenly dangle in front of her eyes, but then her face cleared and she spoke in a slightly affected sort of voice, "I'm sure my…err…ex-boyfriend has had many escapades with…others who have similar characteristics…and so I see no reason why I must stay loyal to him...dogs stay loyal, and he clearly isn't a dog." Jason's eyes grew huge- the size of saucepans- while he took his sweet time to comprehend her words, and I giggled, then Amelia let out a snort. That just tipped the balance, and in no time we were full out laughing.
Jason and I also had our own share of gossip to tell her. Amelia 'oohed' and 'ahhed', as we told her when Sheriff Dearborn's son-in-law brought a circus to Bon Temps. She cussed along with Jason when he told her how rude Maudette and Dawn had been to him- they're sisters by the way, and to be honest he deserved the verbal abuse from the sisters.
"But that's not the best yet! Remember grandma bellafleur?" I asked her.
"Yeah, Andy's…. the police chief's grandmother, right?"
"Yup. That's snobbish and stuck up grandma Bellafleur alright!" Jason quipped. Millie and I smiled, as Jason told her how the recipes for her famous-but extensively secret-Pecan Pie and Chocolate cake, had been leaked into the newspaper.
"Monday evening…. I found all houses with chocolate smelling goodness just oozing out," Jason remarked and smacked his lips together for effect. Those recipes had been in the Bellafleur family since my grandfather's grandfather settled here, and this was the first time that anyone other than a true Bellafleur has gotten to set their hands on the recipe. True to God, at their weddings they must use the recipes to take vows from, instead of the bible. Needless to say, Portia- Andy's equally self-centred and bratty sister- was being even more of a pain-in-the-butt than usual!
Although Amelia was mega rich, and her dad owned basically every housing estate in the neighbouring city of Sherevport, for some insane reason, she chose to live out of the spare room upstairs. That's of course when she was actually in town-which is hardly ever. She tends to go to some wacky places for her witchy powers development.
Often she leaves her cat/boyfriend round here as well; which is why I was telling her to keep her voice hushed about her dates. The last thing I wanted was an aggravated cat clawing my house down. I knew the cat was around somewhere. As though it could read my mind, said cat padded into the kitchen, where Amelia was still babbling nineteen-to-a-dozen with Jason.
The cat approached Amelia, and rubbed up against her right leg, purring softly. I saw this of course, but maintained my superior-Sookie-calmness, looking forward to Millie's reaction. I had my suspicions that Amelia wouldn't take kindly to being greeted like that-they were confirmed when Amelia suddenly shrieked.
"WHAA...?" Jason exclaimed, but then saw the cause of the shriek and started guffawing again. I only kept my head bent down, holding onto my sides as I shook with silent laughter.
"Where'd he go?" Amelia cried, darting her head around frantically.
"H-h-he's there," Jason gasped through his chortles. Amelia leapt out of her chair, upsetting the coffee pot, which promptly broke- thanks for that Millie.
"Where?"
I couldn't keep it in anymore, and both Jason and I just kept laughing while Amelia's seriously panicked look finally settled into sheer exasperation as she realised that Jason had just been fibbing, and the poor, frightened cat had probably just run away again. (Note: I refer to the cat as 'the cat' because Amelia forgot to ask him his name, they had only been together for about 3 hours before Amelia had her 'little accident'. And its not as if I can ask him what his name is exactly). She stood in the middle of the kitchen with a cocked eyebrow, enduring Jason's quickly diminishing bout of laughter. Her hand rested on her hip as she waited Jason out. She waited. I waited. We both waited. I still had a small smile on my lips but Amelia had had enough.
"Okay Jase…one more snort and I swear..." but Millie never got to finish her sentence before Jason erupted into another set of chuckles, and choked out, "You're putty when that cat is human again!"
Seriously? Did he have a death wish? Amelia was very touchy on this matter, and he was just aggravating her more and more by the second. It was then that I decided to put my 'party-pooper' hat on again and rushed a shaking Jason towards the front door.
I tried breaking through his guffaws, but quickly gave up. My brother was difficult to control. And who was the older one again…? I sighed at his complete lack of control and started to head back up towards my door. I counted five seconds before he came back again, running into me and almost knocked me over. Again. I pinched the bridge of my nose, taking a deep breath in.
"Hey Sook, wait up! I need to tell ya something!" Well smack me on the thigh and call me a cockroach! Ya think?
"Jason…" I sighed, not wanting to hear about his new fling, but as usual my brother just gave no caution to the wind, and continued through with whatever he wanted to tell me, ignoring my interruption entirely.
"I've got a new assignment. I need you to check it out for me. Like the good old days remember?" The smile was clear in his voice. I whipped around, a huge smile plastered all over my face.
"Darn tootin' bro! I'm so happy for you! You know I love getting involved!" I gushed. It had been a long long time since Jason had got an assignment. Life as road crew worker wasn't exactly an easy one. In Bon Temps, people didn't cough up money often enough to pay for new private of public roads, so a new assignment sure was a big thing.
"Where about is the plantation?" I asked him, already excited. I knew a fair deal about roads and houses – a side hobby I developed from countless summers with just Jason and Hoyt -Jason's just as dumb but best friend- for company.
"It's just across the graveyard, actually. It's the old Compton mansion. Apparently a new resident is coming to live there and he paid a month's wage to get the road around it fixed." I nodded my head and grinned. This sure was definitely something to look forward too.
I waved Jason goodbye, and shut the door behind me, leaning back against the door for a moment. I suppose in a way I'd be getting a new neighbour. That in itself was an exciting prospect. Would they be a he? Or she? Old? Young? Ugly…or not? Oh boy, I hope they're ready for some southern charm because I absolutely loved meeting new people. I wanted to go up and start assessing the conditions and state of the roads leading up there -no one goes there anymore and they're bound to be in an awful form- but Amelia was back and I really did want to spend some time with her before she had to rush off to a new place.
"Sookie? Are you deliberately ignoring me?" A huffing voice floated over to me. I smiled inwardly.
"Course not darlin', wanna curl up with a tub of Ben n Jerry's and watch a good 'ole movie?" I asked her ardently, knowing very well what the answer was going to be.
Fifteen minutes later we were both in front of the old TV set watching the Last Samurai for the third time after its release last year. Tom Cruise was a particular favourite of both of us. Jason tried to compare himself to the actor once, but that didn't end well for him at all; both Amelia and I ended up on the floor, clutching our stomachs. Ah well…hopefully Jason will find someone decent soon enough…
A/N – So whad'ya think? Tell me in a review.
Laterss.
vitzy
