Bill and I had no where to go. We strolled the streets. I stopped to eat somewhere; he watched passively. It was a horrible feeling, waiting to be attacked. I dreaded the thought they would try again in the daylight when I didn't have the additional support of Bill's strength.

And then it happened. Bill and I stood in the inky darkness outside a deserted alleyway, figuring this was the best place for us to be found. We stood silently. Words were useless. I could tell Bill wanted to speak- I could always tell when it came to him- but they were words that didn't matter anymore. Sometimes I'd watch him, pacing beneath the scant light, and I'd remember all I loved about him. His silence. His hair. His eyes. His voice. The weight of his arms. And then I'd remember how terribly I'd been betrayed by him, and all the good things would shatter into bits of unrecognizable pieces.

We were captured just as he seemed to work up the nerve to say something. A tall, lanky man jumped out of a black car slowly passing by and dragged me into it. They left Bill behind.

The man glared down at me as someone drove in the front seat. His hair was platinum blonde; his eyes were arctic blue. I would almost think he was related to Eric.

"This is my friend," a voice whispered from the passenger seat. It was Lincoln's. "His name is Alec. Very little provokes him. Be careful."

Suddenly I felt so angry. Angry I fell in love with Bill, angry I had this indescribable relationship with Eric, angry that I hadn't known peace in so long. I was a good person. I believed in God. I prayed all the time. I just wanted to be normal. And nothing- nothing- I did every made all the monsters go away. I just got sucked in, further and further, until the light was gone and all I was surrounded by was impenetrable darkness.

Alec eased off a bit and let me sit next to him. I was calm, something I knew put them on edge. I honestly didn't care anymore. What was done was done; there was nothing I could change.

Slowly we pulled up to a normal-looking building. Lincoln came around and opened my car door, grasping me by the arm. He brought me into the building quietly, ignoring the large presence of Alec behind us. We walked into a brightly-lit room. A woman with cherry red hair sat calmly at a large conference table. She smiled warmly at me as we approached.

"So this is Sookie Stackhouse!" she exclaimed.

Lincoln let go of my arm and gestured at a chair across from her. "Please sit."

With no choice, I sat. Alec went off to stand in the corner, and the red-headed woman just sat there staring and smiling.

"This is Valerie," Lincoln finally muttered.

"I'm so happy to meet you, Sookie. I've heard so much about you! I-"

"Hush," Lincoln interrupted, not unkindly. "There will time to converse socially later. Now we need to know everything you do about Fangtasia."

I snorted. "Um, I don't know if you've noticed but vampires are the most secretive... things around. They look down on me. They don't even let me know most of the vampires that work for them."

Lincoln sat next to Valerie and stared expectantly. "Surely you know something."

I sighed. "I only know that Eric guards that place with all he's got. And Pam would do anything for him. So would Ginger. She's been glamoured more than a few times."

Lincoln nodded like this was all old news for him. "Stand. I'll bring you to Eric."

At first I couldn't move; I didn't know if he was serious or not. But when he lifted his body I stood, too, staring at him. He walked around the table and again clasped my arm.

"See you later, Sookie," Valerie cooed.

Lincoln brought me down three flights of stairs. FInally we reached the darkest room of the building. I heard panting from the corner of the room.

"You have two minutes," Lincoln whispered in my ear. I shivered.

And then I was alone with, who I presumed to be, Eric.

It took me a second to get my bearings. I could smell rotting flesh, and from the tiny window's light I could see his body silhouetted and wrapped in silver.

"I don't have an escape plan if you're betting on me," I whispered.

Eric chuckled. "I'm not. I'm not betting on anything. It's my time."

"So you're giving up? Just like that?"

"Even if I hand Fangtasia to them with gleeful arms they will kill me."

I slumped down next to him and ignored the putrid stench. "Shut up."

"What?"

I could tell I startled him.

"You're going to give up your livelihood and life, just like that? What would Pam say?"

Eric was silent for a moment. "She is better off without me. She always was."

I sighed and glared into the darkness. I knew he could see me better than I could see him. Another infuriating vampiric trait. "What about me? Who will come to my rescue all the time and threaten me with sexual favors?"

He genuinely laughed. He put an icy hand on my bare thigh and squeezed. "You'll get by, too. Isn't Compton still sniffing around?"

"Only because I'm not wearing a stamp around town that says his name."

Eric chuckled again. "I really hate him, you know. I tolerate him because I must, but if there weren't greater powers at be I would have extinguished him long ago."

"Shouldn't we be discussing how the hell we get you out of here?"I asked, worried and sick of talking about Bill.

"These are unusual supes we're dealing with, Sookie. They're not animals. They're not human. They're not anything. They merely exist, like spirits and demons. They don't barter, they don't compromise. They take."

I sighed and leaned my head back. "A plan, Eric. We need one."

"And do you not think they knew we'd try to devise one once you were left here? No, they're baiting us. They want us to plan. It's part of their sick, twisted game."

To hear Eric call someone sick and twisted is a trip, let me assure you.

"They're worse than faeries," I whispered to myself.

"No doubt," Eric unfortunately assured me.

"Time's up," a cheerful voice called out. Valerie.

I reluctantly stood and glanced back to where I knew Eric sat. "Be strong," I murmured.

Back upstairs Lincoln sat at the table playing solitaire. "Did your boyfriend tell you any new secrets?"

Now I was even more irritated before- irritated because I couldn't help Eric and irriated that my first thought when I saw Lincoln again was God he's so sexy. Could all the craziness in my life finally be getting to me?

"No, and you know he didn't."

"What I know and what I hope for are two different things." He looked up at his card game and I was once again struck by his good looks. He smirked, seeming to know my thoughts, and pointed to a seat. "I can feel the animosity radiating off of you."

"Can you blame me?"I asked, tiredly plopping down into a chair. "I'm just a waitress. Just an average girl trying to get by."

Lincoln's eyes sparked. "Ah. Just a waitress." He looked down at his cards. "Haven't you learned yet that the most extraordinary things happen to the ordinary? And vice versa?" He looked me up and down in a frank manner. "Besides. You're not that ordinary. For one you're quite attractive, even without your fairy allure. Second you are quite astute when it comes to the games vampires play. Third you can read minds. How much more extraordinary can you be?"

"I just want to be ordinary," I whispered tearfully.

"There, there," he laughed. "Tears will get you nowhere with me. I absolutely detest them. Stop."

And surprisingly I did.

He eyed me before revealing another card. "You know, Sookie... you might enjoy working for us far better than working for Eric or Bill. We're quite fair."

"You abducted me."

"Don't blame us for the company you keep," he murmured, grinning over the table at me. "I mean it though. We treat our employees very fairly. We're aware of how badly we need you, therefore there's none of this ridiculous tension." He sighed and gave up on his game. "All vampires want to do is pick fights- with each other, with humans, with themselves. We merely want to go on existing as we always have, with as little change as possible. Do you follow?"

"What will you do to Eric?" I asked a few minutes later, not wanting to admit how interesting his proposal sounded.

"What do you want me to do with him?" he asked, seeming as though he genuinely wanted my opinion. He put his chin on both fists and watched me.

Finally I found the words. "I want you to release him."

"And Fangtasia?"

"Don't you have the means to start up your own supernatural place?"

He laughed and laughed. "Indeed. But going in with a partner like Eric..."

"Ah," I said. "That was it all along. You want him to go into business with you."

"If he were human or just plain supe," he explained, "we wouldn't have had to go through these shenanigans. But he's a vampire," he laughed, shrugging. "You can't go about them in the usual manner. Surely you've learned that."

"Lincoln," Valerie whispered, "it's around 4:30."

He stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Yes. Board up the vampire. Then show Sookie to her room." He looked down at his hands and then back up at me. "We'll continue our discussion tomorrow. I look forward to it."

Before I could respond, he was up and out of the room.

Valerie tended to Eric and finally came to get me. She showed me to a beautiful bedroom with a plush inviting bed. I sank into it before she even shut the door and entered a deep, deep sleep.