Author's Note: All my chapters are betaed by Vic Vega. Thanks, Luv.

Three

Welcome Home, Sookie

Sookie ran down the stairs and called out James' name. She heard many noises overlapping each other, she could not make any different anymore; which ones were actually being spoken and which one were only in their heads. Sookie followed the noises to find the main room of fangtasia. She was not familiar with the back part of the building, she just hoped she was able to find the place on time and nothing bad had happened to James.

When she saw a big red door, she pushed it wide open. That door was the only door in this deemed hallway. It must be the only way out. It's got to be!

The sound of the main dance floor of Fangtasia came to her ear like a strong wave coming from a sea of chaos. The visitors ran here and there, screaming. The deemed lamps and the disco ball lights did not help them so much of finding the way out. The chairs were hit, or thrown away; glasses or bottles fell on the ground; and then Sookie heard a very loud voice.

"Freeze! Police!!! Stay where you are!"

The bright lights suddenly hit the main floor. Nobody was screaming anymore. The commanding sound of the police officer somehow calmed them down.

Sookie shadowed her eyes with her hands to make her able to see what had been going on. The Fangtasia visitors were now silent. They were standing around and waiting for the police officers to allow them to leave the building.

These bloodsuckers, they give us nothing else, but problems! I should have stayed at home and had a good fuck and not taking care of their problems! They are dead. Why don't they stay dead?! Fuck!

A woman's voice rang in Sookie's head loudly.

I hope it won't be shown on TV! Dad will kill me if he finds out that I was in Fangtasia.

Fuck! Where can I hide my stash? Fuck, fuck!

Why do I have to be here? I didn't see anything. This man suddenly fell. What can I say? I didn't see who killed him…

Somebody was dead.

Sookie looked around. Who was he? And James, where was James? She walked in. She must find James! She knew she should have not come here! This place was nothing, but problem.

After throwing her sight at every corner of the dance floor, finally Sookie saw James standing beside Pam at the end of the stairs on the first floor. She felt relieved. He was safe.

One by one, the visitors were leaving the room. They would be asked outside, a police officer said. They should also give the police officers their identities so that they could be asked for further information.

Pam looked at Sookie surprisingly as she saw her walking up the stairs. "How did you know there was something happening here?"

"I heard somebody screaming." Sookie said.

"You were back there," Pam said. "Nobody can hear anything from back there, not even vampires; unless you have a special hearing ability…" she looked at her. "Sookie…?"

Sookie did not answer.

"Eric would be glad to hear that."

"No." Sookie grabbed Pam's hand. "He doesn't need to know. It's not his business."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked James.

"He doesn't know?"

"Know what?" James looked at Sookie and then Pam.

"Not now, James," Sookie said as she saw a woman approaching them. The last thing she wanted to deal with now was James's questions. She knew, James would not stop asking until all his questions were answered; and it could take forever. What she wanted to do now was going home, or much better, packing all James' and her clothes and heading straight to Baton Rouge; and never coming back!

That woman introduced herself as Detective Sergeant Victoria Luna, from Shreveport Homicide Division. She asked Pam as the owner of the Pub the standard questions, if Pam had seen anything, where she had been during the incident, if she knew the victim. During all the time of the interview, her eyes were on James, and inside her head, she had different questions: Are you not too young to be here? Where is your mother? How old are you? What is your relationship to this bloodsucker?

After asking Pam, she looked at James, "And you?"

"James Stackhouse," James said.

Ah, from Stackhouse family, the bloodsuckers' slave.

Sookie's eyes were widening. What did this bitch just say?

"How old are you?" Det. Sgt. Victoria Luna asked. "Are teenagers allowed to enter your pub, Ms. Thiboult-Rames?"

"He is fourteen years old. He is my son and he's just visiting, with me." Sookie cut her.

"And you are?"

"Suzanne Stackhouse." Sookie had no intention to tell that woman her pet name. "I am his mother."

Ah, the famous Stackhouse. The Leclreq's ass kisser.

If this woman ever opens her mouth to me the same way she speaks in her head, I will smack her face. Sookie tried hard to keep the expression on her face under control.

"James was with me in my office," Pam said.

"Doing?"

"Grand Thef Auto," James answered. "On-line."

The detective looked sceptical, but she wrote it anyway.

Sookie did not know what Grand Thef Auto was, but it seemed it was a satisfying answer.

Teenager, the detective thought. Good that he stays being teenager and not all over this bitch.

"Mrs. Stackhouse, where were you during the incident?"

"I am in the back room with Eric Northman," Sookie said.

"Who is he?"

"Mr. Northman is my business partner," Pam said. "I can take you to him, if you want."

"That would be very helpful," the detective said.

Pam asked James and Sookie to stay here and led the detective to the back room.

"What happened, James?" Sookie asked. "Why are there suddenly police officers?"

"Somebody was murdered, Mom." James whispered. "Pam said, he was a werewolf."

"What? Did Alcide know about this? Is he still here?"

"No, the Herveaux had left the building when it happened."

"How did she know it was a werewolf?"

James' face looked paler than usual. "She said, she could tell from the smell of his blood," he said. "Mom, it's really creepy to see Pam suddenly let out her fangs, pushed me to the corner and looked as if she wanted to attack me."

"No, Honey. She wanted to protect you." Sookie smiled, trying to encourage him. "She is a loyal friend to your father. She will not let anything happen to you."

"I know," James said, but he did not look convinced. Still, she freaks me out!

"What else did you know?" Sookie asked.

"Some people say that the man's throat was cut wide open with a silver blade."

The memory of Ginger Alley and Adam Smith flashed in her brain. They were murdered by Tara Thronton, using an ancient silver knife. Was it the same this time?

"Let's go home, James." Sookie said. "It starts to freak me out, too."

James looked at her. How did she know what I thought? "We are not allowed to leave the place, Mom."

"Let's ask the officers."

They came to the first police officer they saw and asked if they were allowed to leave the place. After giving their address, Sookie wanted to take James home as soon as possible, but he said.

"I want to say goodbye to Pam first."

Sookie followed James returning to the back room. She really did not want to see Eric again. If they had to stay at Northman Mansion, then at least for tonight, she did not have to see or talk to him again!

Sookie opened the door of the back room. "Pam…" she said and her sentence was abruptly cut by what she was witnessing.

Eric was having a woman sitting on his laps. For a moment, she thought he was kissing her neck, but when he lifted his face, Sookie could see his fangs were out and blood was all over his mouth. He was drinking, eating…or whatever the vampires called when they were blood sucking.

His blue eyes were flickering. He looked angry.

Sookie closed the door. She felt her chest heavy and hot. Eric was drinking blood from another woman. Knowing him, he was possibly fucking her too!

"Is Pam there, Mom? Are you all right?"

Sookie looked at James. Her eyes were hot, she prayed that she did not shed any tear. Eric did not deserve her tears, not anymore!

"Let's go, James. You can call Pam later."

"What's wrong, Mom? What did you see?"

"Please, James. Don't ask any question! Not now!"

Almost dragging him, Sookie took James out of Fangtasia and jumped in the taxi, ignoring James' protest.

It was late at night. The house was quiet. There was no sound, but the sound of the clock, ticking. James had fallen asleep not long after they returned from Fangtasia. He asked when they were going to go to Northman Mansion, so that he did not have to unpack his bag. Sookie said, they had to ask Alcide, when he wanted to move into Northman Mansion. Until then, she preferred to stay put.

Sookie could not close her eyes, not even a wink. She did not know how many times she moved around on her bed, tried one position after the other, but it still did not work. Her eyes, especially her brain, did not want to switch off.

The scene she had witnessed at Eric's office was too much for her. She knew that Eric must have drunken blood at the time she had been staying at Northman Mansion. She was even sure that he had drunken from Aude until the day he had locked himself in the vault, but seeing was different from believing. To witness how the lips, which used to caress her body, sucked another woman's neck was unbearable. It was like witnessing him and another woman on the bed.

Sookie closed her eyes. She had to be able to forget Eric. He was not the one she had used to know. Eric would not….what did she know about Eric, anyway? The only moment she had been with him was when he had been in a turbulence situation, choosing between taking the potion that would lead him to an almost unbearable condition and probably kill him in the process, or not taking the potion and not able to say goodbye to Aude.

He had been vulnerable, a shadow of his real self.

Now, he was himself again, a selfish, arrogant bastard!

Sookie pulled the blanket over her head. She had to stop thinking about Eric. She had to be able to sleep because if Alcide called her tomorrow, she would have many things to do. First, she had to call the office in Baton Rouge and tell them that she decided to stay in Bon Temps. Second, she had to pack and then went to Northman Mansion; something that she preferred not to do. Then, she had to live there at Northman Mansion and possibly had to face Eric every evening. That very thought made her angry already. She could not pretend that she had not seen what Eric was doing in his office. She was not Aude who had agreed or even provided the women for Eric.

She wanted to be the only woman in his life, or not at all!

Knock, knock!

Sookie emerged from beneath the blanket. Somebody had knocked the door? In this hour? Sookie sat up and waited. Was it James?

Knock, knock!

No, it was not on the door. It was on the window.

She turned around and saw a figure at the window. No, she would not open the window, not in this hour. And if it was Eric…he could stay there until the break of dawn!

With one push, the window was opened. That figure at the window flew inside and landed on her bed. Without saying anything, he took the blanket off her and threw it on the ground.

There were only five vampires, whom she had invited: Eric, Godric, Bill, Pam and Chow. From from the shape of his body, she could tell that it was Eric. His body was wet from the dew that had fallen upon it. His blond hair spread the smell of jasmine flower. Sookie could not see how his face looked like, but his voice sounded hoarse when he said,

"Come to me."

Sookie searched for the switch of her lamp on the night desk, but Eric caught it. His cold hand was like fire on her skin, slowly sparking and crawling from her hand upward.

"Eric…"

"Say that you'll come to me."

Sookie could feel his cold lips on her neck. With her other hand, she touched his hair. That touch was like a sign for Eric that she had accepted him again because Sookie could feel how closed and how hard Eric pressed his body against hers. His lips were no longer on her neck. They were replaced by his nose which softly and slowly moving upwards, as if it was following the line of the arteries, then before it reached the ear, it turned around. Sookie could feel how his cold lips moved slowly on her cheek, searching for her lips.

"Come to me…" he whispered. His body that was close against hers was getting harder. "Say that you'll come to me."

"Eric…I…"

Brak!!! A loud noise was coming from the living room and then continued by a loud yell. "Ouch!!!"

James must have fallen off the coach again. That boy needed a bed and soon.

"Eric…" she wanted to say that she had to go checking James, when she realized that nobody else was there.

Hastily she turned on the light. Yes, nobody was there, or had been there. The window was closed, only her blanket was on the floor.

Sookie sighed. She had been dreaming.

"Mom, I can't sleep," James' voice was at her door.

Sookie got down off her bed and opened the door. "You sleep here," she said. "I sleep on the couch."

James dragged his feet into the room. "I need a bed," he mumbled, and then let himself fall onto the bed. "Good night, Mom." Soon afterwards, his snore filled the bedroom.

Alcide called early in the morning that his family would go to Northman Mansion late in the afternoon. He wanted to double check the security measurement before he let his family enter the ground. He had learned from the past, he said. This time, he would only use the inner circle of the Long Tooth Clan to protect the house and the ground.

It was half past two when Sookie drove her car away from her house. From the rear mirror, she could see how the house becoming smaller and smaller, then finally she could not see anymore. She had a strange feeling that it would be the last time that she saw the old house of The Stackhouse's.

James did not say a word since he had entered the car. His iPod hung around his neck. Sookie knew he was listening to some Swedish songs he loved so much. Pam gave him the CD on his twelfth birthday. From time to time, she heard him singing along. He shook his head according to the rhythm, and speaking words she did not understand. She had seen this kind of scene before. Eric had the same habit, driving and singing along.

Sookie touched his hair. James was his father's son, through and through.

James removed the iPod. "Why are you grinning, Mom?"

"You are jumping around like a little rabbit,"

"Yeah, right. Six feet tall rabbit," he rolled his eyes. Clearly he did not like being called 'a rabbit'.

"Hey, there is a movie about a 6"3' rabbit, called 'Harvey' with James Stewart and it is not an ordinary rabbit, it's a pooka. It is a beautiful movie; you should watch it one day."

"What is a pooka?"

"Some kind of faery."

James put back his iPod on. "Yeah, right. A faery named Harvey and it had a shape of a rabbit. What is next? A faery named Tinker Bell?"

Sookie smiled. What about James Frederick Northman? He had faery blood in his veins. Maybe one day she would tell him that and he could accept "Harvey" much easier.

Sookie got goose bumps as they were going through the woods. She knew the woods too well to be able to say that she did not like the sight of it. As beautiful as it could be, the Bon Temps woods was also one of the most dangerous place she had known. It was like a magnet that drew any bad things to it and in return, the woods would do bad things with her, whether she liked it or not.

"Mom, is it allowed to go camping in the woods?"

What?

James had removed his iPod and he was looking at her with big eyes as if he had just seen a wonder. "I just saw some people in the woods. They carried something like buckets."

He had just seen the faeries.

"Possibly," Sookie said. "We can ask the sheriff later. Why?"

Andy Bellefleur was the Sheriff of Bon Temps now. Sheriff Dearborn had retired some years ago and Andy was elected as his replacement. She knew what Andy would say about James' idea to go to the woods, but she could not say it right now to him. She did not want to take a way the happy thought he was having.

"Maybe we can go camping one day," James said, but his head said, she's so beautiful.

Sookie almost stepped on the wrong pedal. One of the faeries had caught his attention. Sookie wondered who she was.

The big gate was opened by two men.

Alcide was waiting for them in front of the house. He opened the car door for her as Sookie stopped the car. "Welcome home, Sookie." He said.

Sookie looked at the Northman Mansion. She was not sure if she felt like coming home. It's more like that she was entering the house of troubles.

James carried his own bag, almost running he entered the house.

"He looks excited," Alcide said.

"He does, doesn't he?"

"Lucky man," Alcide smiled. "His father, I mean."

Sookie was not so sure about that.

Alcide carried her bag. "Will he join you later?"

Alcide must have known that she was not married. He was only being too polite to ask. Except Lafayette and Joseph Newlin, there was nobody else who knew who James' father was. Not even Jason or Arlene.

"No." Sookie said. "His father died, long time ago."

And that's the truth.

Alcide's smile was brighter. "Still, he was a lucky man."

Then he walked in front of her.

***********