A/N: I'm still laying down the back story… so this chapter is heavy with info. Sookie is doing a lot of remembering.

GODSPEED

I had taken refuge against the rain under an awning, but it was too late. I was soaked to the bone. I stared at the shifters. Some of them made the most of their imprisonment. The werewolves, in particular, liked to frolic with each other. I noticed the tiger was enjoying the rain, and I remembered that real tigers were very fond of being inside water, unlike other cats.

Of all the shifters, I knew one best. He'd been my boss after all, and a little more. Sam Merlotte padded over to me, looking like a bear. He sat beside me, and his head came almost to my shoulders. He was massive, but still as gentle with me as he'd ever been. I hugged him, enjoying the warm wet fur, and I remembered the day he had told me his secret.

"Come here, Sookie," he'd said to me as I was passing by his office. "Close the door, please." I entered and sat next to him. He'd been sitting at his desk looking serious as a grave. He looked up and gave me a sad smile. "Tomorrow is a very important day, about as important as the great revelation."

That shocked me. "Really? How do you know? What's going to happen?" I asked quickly, a little excited. I had suspected that if there was such a thing as vampires, then there might be other creatures that hadn't made themselves known. I felt a smile forming on my lips as I waited for answers.

Sam didn't feel like sharing in my excitement. "I don't want to scare you, Sookie. You're a friend, and I think you ought to know what's going to happen," he looked away from me and at his hands, "and what I am," he mumbled.

I was curious enough to do something I'd never done to Sam. I read his mind. I noticed that his thoughts were not like the thoughts of others, but that didn't surprise me. Not everyone broadcasted their thoughts in the same way. He seemed to think more in colors than in shapes.

Finally the curiosity began eating at me. "Come on, Sam. Whatever it is I can take it. You know what I am."

"Yes, and I'm still surprised that you haven't figured me out yet," he said looking up again and straight into my eyes. His thoughts cleared and I could see the wood at night, but everything fogged up again within his mind.

"I try very hard to stay out," I said, putting it as delicately as I could. What I meant to say was that I made a superhuman effort to shield myself against his thoughts in particular. I'd found it was never a good idea to read the mind of the person who signed your paychecks. It led to a sore lack of employment on my part.

"Thank you, Sookie. I know it must be hard, but you don't have to do that. I've never thought about anything that might offend you," Sam paused, looking at his hands again. "As a matter of fact, I give you permission to read my mind from now on. You don't have to try so hard anymore."

I waved him off. "It's okay, Sam. So… what is it you wanted to tell me?" I asked again, more than just curious now. I was itching to know Sam's secret. I usually knew everybody's secret, what with my ability to read everybody's mind, but since I'd stayed out of Sam's… let's just say that now that he was giving me permission to snoop, I really wanted to know, but I wanted him to tell me.

Sam took a deep breath. "I am a shape shifter."

I blinked. There was nothing I could say to that because I couldn't understand what he'd just said.

He decided he needed to elaborate. "I have the ability to shift into any animal at will, and always during the full moon," he explained.

"Shift into any animal?" I repeated dumbly. Somehow the image wasn't fitting inside my head. I couldn't conjure up anything even remotely close to what he meant.

"Yes. I can look at a picture of an animal and turn into that animal. I usually turn into a collie, and I have a book on my coffee table open to the picture of a collie. But I can turn into anything," he elaborated, talking to me like I was a five-year-old. I guess I deserved it.

"Any animal? Like a wolf or a bear?" I asked again.

"Yes, any animal I see and imprint on."

"At any time?"

"At any time. It takes me more energy to do it when there isn't a full moon. And at a full moon I have to change whether I'd like to or not," he kept on explaining.

I sat back in my chair. My brain started working properly again and my mind was full of questions. "Are there others like you?"

"I'm the rarest sort of shifter, but there are others like me. There are also shifters that turn into only one animal, like werewolves, and werepanthers, that sort of thing."

I shook my head and I knew I was smiling in wonder. How had I missed this? The world was truly a marvelous place. My ability was nothing compared to the ability to shift into something different. That must have been incredible! A true miracle. God really did work in mysterious ways. Strange and wondrous ways. Knowing all this affirmed my faith because if there were such things as vampires and shape shifters, then certainly there was a deity overseeing all of us. I called my deity God, but he or she went by other names too. I was sure of it, more than ever. My faith doubled, tripled!

My Gran would be so excited to learn about shape shifters. She'd been giddy as a teenager when she learned that our neighbor was a vampire, a vampire who had fought in the Civil War while he was still a man. Bill and Gran had become friends: he liked to talk about his human days, and she loved to listen. Now she would probably ask me to bring Sam so she could ask him all sorts of questions.

"Is it okay to tell my Gran?" I asked Sam.

His answering grin was wide and full of relief. He stood up suddenly and scooped me up into a tight hug. "Thank you, Sookie. You are the one person whose opinion matters the most. You've made me so happy."

My heart gave a tiny leap at those words. What did he mean? Suddenly I didn't need to guess at the meaning anymore. He had let go of me enough so he could kiss my mouth. I'd seldom been kissed, and Sam was a very important person in my life. Quick as a wink I made a decision to kiss him back. I was sure that kissing the boss was a mistake, but kissing Sam wasn't.

He pulled away when he felt my kiss to lock my eyes with his gaze. He was asking for permission. His eyes were an intense shade of blue, much prettier to look at than my own blue-gray ones. I smiled shyly, sort of hoping he'd continue what he started. Somehow kissing Sam was not at all like the other awkward kisses I'd received before. His thoughts transferred when he touched me, but they were mostly pretty colors.

Sam caressed my face and kissed me again, this time softer. Lacking any ability, I simply copied what he was doing. His lips were a little rough, like he'd been biting them, but warm and tender on mine. We were interrupted by a knock on his door, and I jumped about three feet in the air. Sam chuckled and kissed my forehead before letting me go. I turned away from the door, knowing my face must have been red as a beet.

"Sam!" it was Lafayette, the cook at Merlotte's and my good friend. He sounded desperate. I forgot my embarrassment and turned in his direction. "Something happened to Vampire Bill. His house is on fire, and the firefighters can't tell if he was in there or not."

"Oh, no!" I muttered. I was so hoping Bill had picked tonight to go visit with Gran. Without thinking too long about it, I dug for my purse inside Sam's desk and got my cell phone. I called home to see if Gran was okay and if Bill was with her.

"He was here briefly about ten minutes ago. He came in his car and said he was on his way to Shreveport," Gran said. Before I hung up I expressly forbade her to go across the cemetery to watch Bill's house burn. She was due for dialysis treatment the next day, so she wasn't a hundred percent healthy. Not that she ever was.

Sam called Bill's cell phone and he answered. We all sighed in relief. Bill was okay. True, he would be heartbroken about his house, but he was still alive, so to speak. Sam broke the bad news to Bill and offered him a place in his trailer to spend the day. That's how close Bill had become to everyone at Merlotte's. If Sam hadn't offered, I would have offered as well. I didn't know where in my house he could spend the day, but we'd figure it out.

As it turned out, Bill was devastated, but since he was on his way to Shreveport he could stay with some vampire friends who had adequate accommodations. There was nothing to be done for the house other than call the insurance company. Bill took that part in stride. Apparently when you had been on the Earth for over a hundred and fifty years, losing a house wasn't the end of the world. What hurt him was losing this particular house.

The rest of that night I listened to every brain I could, giving myself a massive headache in the process. I wanted to "hear" anybody thinking about Bill's house, and if anybody thought it was foul play. I wasn't naïve enough to think that everyone was as mesmerized by the vampires (and now shape shifters) as I was. There were some people, even in tiny Bon Temps, that didn't think the vampires were signs from God. To them they were devils. Some of the stuff I'd seen on TV reminded me of the witch hunts I'd read about that had taken place in Salem, Massachusetts, more than two hundred years before. There were people accusing regular humans of being vampires. They were some of the strangest days.

I didn't find anybody thinking anything bad about Bill's house. Most people were thinking it was a shame because they liked Vampire Bill, or else they weren't thinking about it at all.

The next night the shifters announced their existence, much in the same way as vampires. We had the TV on over the bar, a new really thin one that Sam had gotten for the occasion. As soon as the announcement was made, several shifters within Merlotte's decided to show themselves. Calvin Norris, from Hot Shot – which was way down the road from Bon Temps – shifted into a beautiful panther. The most amazing thing was watching the animal prance fluidly, and knowing that: one, it was Calvin; and two, it wasn't going to attack. Sam chose the collie he'd told me about, and he was cute as a button. One other person, a man I'd seen several times that tipped rather well – whose name I didn't know – turned into a wolf. The people at Merlotte's began clapping loudly.

That night I listened to brains again. The people who took offense at the sudden revelation left the bar, but they were very few. We lost Arlene, one of the waitresses, when she quit on the spot. Just as well. Everybody else settled down after the initial surprise, and life went back to normal.

Sam asked me out on a date the night of the shifter revelation. He set it up so that we could meet Bill at the vampire bar where I'd gone for my birthday. I accepted, of course. We had already kissed, might as well go on the date that was supposed to go along with it. We'd have to wait a whole week for everyone's schedule to coincide.

That week was the week from hell. Literally. A new group called the Fellowship of the Sun had lobbied in Congress for the supernaturals to register as such. It went against everything this country stood for. It wasn't even a census. It sounded a lot like what had happened in Germany right before World War II. Back then the Jews were targeted for their religion. Now the supernaturals were being targeted for their genes. There was so much hate, so much fear, and so much confusion that some people were calling it the end of the world.

Many people decided to skip registering when it became law. Some states completely repealed the Federal law as unconstitutional. Louisiana wasn't one of them. Pretty much every southern state adopted the rule. If a supe wanted to live anonymously, he would have to move to the northeast or northwest. Sam didn't want to leave his life behind, but neither did he want to register, so he let the deadline slip by. I thought it was a mistake, but didn't voice my opinion. I hate to say that this was not my problem, but it wasn't any of my business.

Sam and I met Bill at Fangtasia and ended up having a wonderful time. Sam indulged me by taking me out on the dance floor several times, even though he wasn't that good. He was good enough. Bill had asked his new real estate agent out for a date as well.

We followed Bill out of the parking lot at the end of the night, and he kept on going through Shreveport while Sam took the highway to Bon Temps. About ten miles out of Shreveport Sam got pulled over by an unmarked police car. We weren't sure why. True, he wasn't abiding by the speed limit, but he wasn't going that fast either.

As soon as the police officer approached the car I knew everything that had happened: they'd followed us out from Fangtasia and decided to stop us when we were well into the state highway. It was some sort of trap to "punish" people who frequented vampire bars. Sam was livid when I told him. He'd already handed over his license, registration and proof of insurance, and the cop was running everything through a database and writing up the ticket back in his car.

I let my guard down and wasn't listening to the either the cop or his partner's thoughts. I was concentrating on Sam, because I'd had a very enjoyable night up until this point and I was nervous and wanted to find out if he had enjoyed himself too. Unbeknownst to me, someone had told the government that Sam was a shifter, and now he was an unregistered shifter which was a felony. We both ended up with our hands cuffed and leaning forward over the hood of Sam's truck. Before long a small van came and picked us up, and delivered us to the building in which we now found ourselves.

A loud siren brought me back to the present. I'd found that my mind had a tendency to drift lately, remembering everything and wishing things could have turned out differently. Sam had imprinted on a fellow werebear who didn't mind for Sam to look like him (the werewolves would have none of it – they were a proud race), and now he was starting to get up from his sitting stance next to me so we could all go back inside to our cells.

Once inside mine, I changed quickly into a dry uniform. I had become used to my nudity, and oddly enough the only person that could see me naked was Sam, whose cell was right across from mine. I hid too far away for others to be able to see me. I was pretty sure Sam had seen me, but I didn't get the impression that he ogled.

I lied on my bed and listened to the minds of all the people, as one by one fell into a deep sleep. I knew, for instance, that there was a new vampire in the cell next to mine. He or she wouldn't sleep. Too bad, because I really wanted to cry without having an audience this time. No matter, I hadn't brought the vampire here, so I could cry without feeling guilty. And so I did. I prayed for forgiveness and I cried until I was just sobbing without tears. I grew silent when I had nothing but deep despair inside me.

"Psst!" I heard from the cell next door. It was the vampire.

"What?" I asked curtly. I knew I'd been heard crying and I feared I'd be asked stuff. Next thing I know something had been thrown inside my cell. It was a small paint chip, about the size of half my palm. In tiny letters scratched into the paint, the vampire had scribbled: Whisper, I'll hear. Where is other vampire?

Oh! Rescue mission. Well, at least some of us could get out of here. I cast out a wide mental net, looking for another void. It wasn't as easy as it should have been because most minds were asleep. They weren't voids, but they weren't active either. I found only one void within my scope. Whoever it was, the cell was ten minds straight, and five minds left.

I told the vampire where to find the other in the quietest whisper I could muster. He said "thank you" in a deep resonating voice before breaking the door that was trying to hold him in. I knew that cell had been reinforced with silver, so this vampire must have been extremely old and powerful to be able to do that. As soon as he broke the door the alarms started to sound, but I doubted very much that they would be able to catch the now rogue vampire. I'd seen Bill move at vampire speed. It wasn't something that someone could see, let alone apprehend.

I smiled to myself. I'd done a good deed, for once. I wished the vampire good luck and Godspeed.

TBC