Disclaimer: I don't own True Blood or any of its characters. I only own Justine.
I know I usually update every week, but I've been very busy between work and school. Also, I never got to see the season finale and haven't had the time to watch it online yet, so my inspiration had been totally dead. Despite the fact that I had this whole chapter written out in script format. Just to let you all know, I have episode 8 written out in script format as well. Episodes 9 and 10 didn't inspire me too much by way of how to include Justine, except when it came to Sam - yes! The third member of this love triangle is finally making an appearance! - so that's gonna be a short chapter. Episode 11 is all scripted out as well, but kinda short as well. That just leaves the finale.
Chapter 6
"Well, well! Lookie what we have here!"
Justine, still in her wolf form, immediately snarled and barked at Coot, hackles high in the air. By the smell of the blood on Coot and Debbie's mouths, hands and flesh, they'd be feeding. On what, she could only guess was a Vampire and the only one she knew that would be put up as Were food was Bill. Christ, this definitely wasn't good. What also wasn't good was that Debbie saw the way Coot was adjusting his crotch, eyes bearing holes in her. It seemed it finally clicked just why her fiancée was looking at another "woman" the way he was and Debbie blew a gasket.
"Are you fucking this bitch?" she screeched, shoving him. Pissed, Cooter pushed her right back.
"Don't you fucking try that again!" That was all the answer she needed.
When Debbie ran at Justine, shifting into her animal form - Justine was surprised to see she was a Were fox - and barreled straight into her. Amidst the biting and rolling around, Justine distinctly heard Coot, hooting and hollering, cheering them both on from the sidelines. Luckily for her, Debbie really wasn't strong at all, even with the V in her. It wasn't a very hard fight and, after biting her in her hind legs pretty hard, she over powered Debbie and tossed her hard into the ground. Shifting back into her human form, Justine quickly kicked the now human Debbie across the face. Frustrated and pissed, she had completely forgotten about Coot for a moment and kicked the junkie a couple times until she stopped moving. Suddenly, she felt herself being grabbed around her waist and pulled away from the unconscious woman.
"Oh, baby. I love it when you get all worked up," Coot whispered huskily in her ear. Just as he was re-familiarizing himself with her ass, she elbowed him in the gut and pushed away from him, falling to the ground. "You stupid fucking cunt! Ain't you learned by now?" he shouted and stormed towards when he was suddenly plowed by a truck. Hands on her mouth, Justine jumped back with a shriek. Relief quickly flooded her as Alcide leaned out the window.
"Jump in!" he shouted.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" she replied as she ran over to the passenger side. She was only momentarily surprised to see Tara, who quickly passed her, her clothes. Justine didn't even bother looking back to see if Coot was alive or dead, she didn't care at all. They drove for a bit, following Tara's instructions towards the "slave quarters". With their heightened hearing, both Were and Shifter could hear a familiar woman screaming for help and Alcide punched down on the gas, barreling towards the sound. After slamming on the breaks, the three quickly ran inside only to find a blood mess, a sobbing and hysterical Sookie, and Bill, who looks dead. Well, dead-er.
Hysterical, Sookie just shouted back, "Shut the door!"
"What are you-?" Alcide couldn't even finish his question. Not that he would anyway. His eyes were set upon the pile of blood and guts his charge was currently digging through
"She had to have a key to the manacles!" Justine watched as Sookie worked even faster, picking up and tossing around the pile or what Justine could only guess was Lorena. Jesus Christ, is that what happened to Vampires when they died the "true death"? She'd heard stories but never imagined…
Terrified, Tara's wide eyes trained themselves on Bill and exclaimed, "Is he dead?"
"No. he's in real bad shape, but he's-"
"Are you sure? Cause he looks dead," the other girl interjected.
Sookie snapped, "HE ISN'T DEAD! When vampires are dead, this," she shouted, holding up a huge pile of bloody guts, "is what they look like!" She went back to digging through the pile until she finally found a set of keys.
"Jesus Christ." Justine shook her head and Tara and next on the other side of Bill, taking the keys from Sookie to unhook her friend's other hand.
"Ladies," Alcide stated, calm as ever, though Justine could tell he was just hiding his nervousness very well, "we have got to get out of here. There's wolves all over the place."
"I know."
"Sookie, it's only a matter of time before they come back!" he explained.
"I said, I know." The two of them finally got Bill unhooked and Sookie begged them to help her wrap them up. Justine immediately nodded and started looking for something to wrap Bill up in. He was her friend and, he may have made a bad choice, but she knew he was doing it to protect Sookie. It was a stupid way to go about it, but she sure as hell didn't want to see him dead because of it.
"What? We ain't got that kind of-"
"I am not leaving here without him." Tara and Alcide shared a look. Justine sighed and shoved Alcide as hard as she could, but he hardly budged.
"Well, don't just stand there! Start looking!" she snapped at them.
"Fuck!" the werewolf exclaimed. "Let's wrap him up in the tarp." Sookie stood as Alcide and Justine grabbed the unmoving Vampire by his shoulders and ankles. Tara flat out refused to go near Bill. Together, they moved him to the tarp, quickly wrapping him up.
"Aw, you shouldn't have!" Turning to the door, the groups saw Debbie, looking very disheveled. "Vampire burrito, for me?" She aimed a small gun at them.
A little pissed and scared, though she'd never admit it, Justine said, "Didn't I knock you the fuck out?"
"Shut the fuck up, bitch, or I'll put one between your eyes!" she shouted, aiming the gun square at Justine.
"I'd really like to see you try," she retorted and Alcide grabbed her arm, pulling her behind him, muttering for her to shut up.
"Debbie, just let everybody else go, take the Vamp with 'em. You and me, we can talk."
"Fuck you! I'm the one with the fucking gun, ain't no one going nowhere!"
"Sweetheart-"
"I ain't your sweetheart no more! Now give me a minute to think!" Justine watched the woman shift back and forth, fidget.
"Don't even think about it, bitch!" Sookie suddenly shouted and Debbie moved the gun from Alcide to Sookie.
"Oh, you sure picked a dumbass time to call me bitch, bitch!" Justine fought the urge to roll her eyes at the comeback. Had this been going on in Merlotte's and she was surrounded by her people - Christ, she was actually calling the yokels her people! - she would've commented on the epic fail of that come back.
"Sookie," Alcide growled, keeping his eyes trained on his ex, "I got this."
Debbie snapped, "You ain't got shit!"
"Yes, I do. There ain't no way you're pulling that trigger. It's that V talking. This isn't who you are." For a moment, Justine could see Debbie waver but the way her eyes kept wavering back to Bill didn't prove too promising.
"Alcide, I've been listening in and she ain't exactly misrepresenting herself," Sookie stated and Justine couldn't help but let out a low growl in a sigh. She shook her head as Debbie moved the gun back to the waitress. Honestly, she couldn't blame the Were for doing so.
"Okay, freak, your mind reading shits getting real fucking old!" Justine mentally nodded, I couldn't agree more.
"Justine!" Sookie exclaimed, staring at her in shock. Justine just glared at the telepath, thinking that this was both not the time or place and that Sookie knew exactly how Justine felt about her reading her mind, so it really was stupid of her to sound so surprised.
"Debbie! Look at me. Look at me," Alcide called gently until she finally looked at him. "You loved me once. I know you did." Too everyone's surprise, Debbie started crying.
"I'd of given up everything for you. But you wouldn't even give me a baby." Justine couldn't help but look up at Alcide, a little shocked. Was that the kind of man he was? Was he the kind of man who made promises of all the things girls wanted and failed to follow through? Bailed out at the last minute?
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, you're sorry?" she snapped, the broken woman suddenly strong again. "Whatever happened to "I wanna bring another one of our kind into the world"? It's too fucking late for you to be sorry!"
"It's never too late. You wanna talk about it, we can talk about it." He took a cautious step forward and her grip on the gun tightened.
"Back off!" Debbie shouted and Alcide stopped, his body tense but hands up to show he meant no harm. Justine felt tense and antsy. She didn't like this, waiting for the junkie to finally get up the nerve to shoot them. Or worse, for the rest of the Pack to show up and rip them all to shreds. Except probably Sookie, of course; that little bitch was far too special to be killed. Lucky her. Looking over at her, Justine saw her and Tara in the midst of an intense stare, which could only mean one of two things. One, the two were going to confess their love for each other, which seemed unlikely, or two, they were having a mental conversation. Christ, whatever those two backwater girls came up with was probably worse than being shot.
"Debbie!" Justine called, moving around Alcide. He tried to stop her, pull her back as Debbie aimed the gun at her once more, but she just shrugged him off.
"What the fuck do you want, bitch?"
"Let me handle this, Justine!" he pleaded, trying to pull her behind him once more.
"We already saw you handle it, now we're gonna do it my way!" she told him and cautiously took a step towards Debbie, hands in the air. "Look, I know I kicked your ass a couple minutes ago and I can tell your scared but you need to know one thing."
Feeling pretty tough, Debbie scoffed. "And just what the fuck is that?"
"I'm not a Were like you or Alcide or Coot." Justine noted that the other woman's grip on the gun tightened at the mention of the two men. "I'm a Shifter. That means I can become a whole lot more than a wolf. And that just means…I have plenty more ways to beat your junkie white trash redneck ass."
Alcide growled, "Justine, stop it!"
"You forget who has the gun here, bitch!"
"Don't worry, Alcide," she said calmly, sneering at Debbie, "she couldn't hit the broad side of beauty parlor. Check out that dye job."
"YOU FUCKING WHORE!"
Justine took her chance and lunged at the angry woman. Unfortunately, she underestimated Debbie, who fired the gun. Justine screamed as the bullet pierced her low in her shoulder, but screamed through the pain, continuing to charge until she tackled her to the ground. Justine vaguely heard Alcide and the girls shouting, but she ignored it as she struggled to restrain the squirming Were beneath her. Still hearing the shouts behind her, she punched Debbie a couple times. The Were raised the gun again, but Justine grabbed her arm and bashed it against the ground until she let go. She was pretty sure she felt a couple bones break and, from Debbie's shrieks of pain, she guessed she was right. And she didn't feel bad in the slightest. Why should she?
"Fuck you, bitch! I'll kill you!" Debbie shouted.
"You can try!" Justine retorted, trying to get a grip on Debbie.
"Get off of me!"
"What the fuck is going on in here?"
The sound of Coot made Justine stop and stare. Damn, V must be really good if it could get Debbie up from a beating and Coot from being hit by a van! Too stunned to move, Justine stared at him as he looked around, grinning like the feral he was when he spotted Justine. Letting go of Debbie, stumbled to her feet and started to back away when he moved towards her but the sudden bang stopped him. Justine yelped, along with the other girls. When the hell did Alcide grab the gun? Instinctively, Justine practically ran behind Alcide, who was staring down Coot so hard it scared even her. And turned her on, but now really wasn't the time for that. Coot, unfortunately, was still alive and glaring up at Alcide, eyes changing color. Alcide shot him square in the head. Debbie started screaming and Justine gripped the back of Alcide's jumpsuit, burying her face in it. It was over. Alcide had delivered on the promise Maryann never did; she'd never have to be scared of Coot again.
"Oh my God! Oh my fucking God!" Debbie exclaimed hysterically, collapsing atop Coot's dead body.
"I'm sorry, Debbie," Alcide said, sounding a little hollow and not sincere at all. "He didn't leave me any choice." Panting and seething, she glared up at him.
"You…you had a choice," she accused and stood up, pointing to Justine. "And you picked a fucking Shifter over one of your own!" Debbie moved towards him, but he kept the gun high and trained on her. Debbie stopped, sneering at him as he cocked the gun, prepared to shoot again if he had to, and looked at the humans.
"Go on. Get him in the van." Sookie and Tara didn't need to be told twice, immediately grabbing Bill and leaving, but Justine hesitated.
"Alcide…"
"Go, Justine. I'll be right out." She stared at him a moment, but he nodded slowly. Returning the nod, she spared Debbie one more look before running outside to help with Bill. She stopped short seeing Tara holding Bill over her shoulder, like he weighed nothing at all. Hearing the woman state that she had a lot of V in her helped make sense of the strange sight. Sookie snidely asked her if the V also made her insensitive.
Hurt by her friend's lack of compassion, Tara snapped, "He left me for dead!"
"Well, two wrongs don't make a right!" Sookie sniped childishly.
"Can we discuss this when we are safe and as far as fucking possible away from here?" Justine interjected. Looking behind her, she saw Alcide coming out. For a moment, just for a moment, she was scared that he'd killed Debbie as well, but hearing the bitch screaming was a relief. He'd just locked her inside the shed. Thank goodness, she couldn't help but think.
"Come on!" Alcide barked.
Sookie climbed into the back of the van and told them, "Close the door. I'm riding in the back with Bill."
"Sook, he ain't gonna make it. Don't do this to yourself," Tara pleaded.
"CLOSE THE DOOR!"
"Stackhouse, I know it's a stretch, but use your brain for a fucking minute!" Justine snapped angrily, completely fed up with everything that was going on and had been going on the past few days. "He hasn't had any fucking blood for who knows how long. If he wakes up and your back there, what do you think is gonna happen?" Suddenly hearing wolves howling and yipping not too far from them, the discussion was quickly closed. They simply didn't have time to talk Sookie out of her stupidity.
"All right, let's go! We got company!" Alcide shut the doors as Tara and Justine ran up front, cursing. As they were driving off, they could see the wolves chasing them in the side mirrors.
"You need a faster van," Tara commented.
"Shut the fuck up, Tara." Justine was calm now, no real force behind her words. Repeating what he did with Coot, Alcide swerved the car and killed one of the wolves. As they get away, they see the wolves change back into their human form, ceasing their chase.
"You okay?" Groaning, Justine held a hand to the gunshot wound in her shoulder. It looked like the adrenaline was finally wearing off because it really hurt now.
"Argh, what the fuck do you think?" she groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. One hand on the wheel, he reached over to the glove compartment and pulled out a fairly clean rag and passed it to Tara.
"Press that against the wound, hard," he ordered. "We'll clean it up once we get safe." Tara nodded and pressed the rag against Justine's wound, cringing as she screamed between clenched teeth in pain. She couldn't help the tears that started to leak out.
"Oh, fuck! Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" She kicked the floor and hit her head against the back before gritting her teeth and sighing, panting. Putting her hand over Tara's, she pressed down and finally opened her eyes, looking shakily at the startled bartender. "You can let go now. I got it."
"Y-You sure?"
"Yeah." Tara nodded, slowly removing her hand and sitting back, tense. The front seat has finally calmed down.
Alcide briefly looked at Tara and calmly told her, "You need to relax."
"Relax? I ain't even breathed for a week," she admitted.
"Take a breath. You need it."
"He's right," Justine added, making Tara look at her. "I don't know how you got here or what happened to you, but you're safe now, Tara. You're safe. I promise." Justine looked into Tara's big brown eyes a moment before closing her own and sighing. Shit, she was getting tired. She was glad to hear Tara take a breath beside her. It was shaky, but it was something. It was only a few minutes later that she felt the van stopped and she blinked a few times, moving to get out behind Tara.
Appearing in front of her, Alcide stopped her. "Whoa! What you doing?"
"Getting out," she replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Alcide shook his head. "No, you ain't."
"And why the fuck not?" she snapped, confused.
"You're hurt. You shouldn't be moving too much," he advised. She opened her mouth to protest but Alcide cupped her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek. "Stay here, okay? I'll be right back." Reluctantly, Justine nodded and, satisfied, Alcide walked into the woods.
Leaning back in her seat, Justine sighed, "This sucks." Closing her eyes, she heard Tara banging on the back, calling out to Sookie but her mind was getting…fuzzy. She vaguely smelt Alcide next to her, probably getting back in the van, but nothing else was quite clear.
"Justine? Justine!" She mumbled, only half aware that someone was shaking her. Or was that the van moving? "FUCK!"
Beep…beep…beep…
Groaning, Justine clenched her eyes firmly together and winced. Shit, her head hurt but she wasn't quite sure why. Opening her eyes, she winced at the bright light above her and waited a few moments before trying again. As her eyes adjusted, Justine looked around and felt a moment of panic set it. She was in a hospital and was actually hooked up to an IV, blood and heart monitor. At least that explained the incessant beeping sound. Despite still being very disoriented, she felt a rush of panic and started grabbing at the IV that was pumping blood into her. It was at that moment, in the midst of struggle to rip out the needle, that the nurse walked in and rushed over, trying to pry Justine's hand away.
"Miss L'eveque! Stop it! Miss L'eveque, you're going to hurt yourself!" she screamed.
"No! You don't understand! The blood-!"
"It's TrueBlood!" Justine paused and stared at the nurse in shock.
"Excuse me?"
Sighing patiently, the nurse repeated, "It's TrueBlood." Confused, Justine stared at her, waiting for further explanation. Sighing once more, the nurse straightened herself out. "When you friends brought you and Miss Stackhouse in, none of them knew your blood type. We ran your blood and you both turned up some…very odd results."
Narrowing her eyes, Justine asked, "What kind of results?"
"Your friend, Miss Stackhouse, apparently doesn't have a blood type." Justine shook her head, her mouth opening and closing, letting out a few jumbled words here and there. The nurse just nodded sympathetically. "Yes, that was our reaction as well. You, on the other hand, have a very unique marker in your blood." Tense, Justine tried to lay back and in her bed and appear nonchalant.
"Really? Fascinating."
The woman just smiled. "Don't worry. I recognized the anomaly and set you up with a bag of TrueBlood instead of the real thing." She stared at the woman a moment, the confusion still on her face. Sighing, annoyed this time, she stated, "I'm a Were-tiger, dear, and I recognized your blood as Shifter blood."
"…O-Oh," Justine replied, feeling a little stupid as she sank back in her bed.
"You lucky I got assigned to you and no one else. I'm the only supernatural currently on duty. And don't worry about the TrueBlood. Since it's synthetic, it won't hurt you the way human blood would have." Nodding, Justine sighed in relief and allowed herself to relax for the first time. "Now, you had a gunshot wound and your in recovery from the surgery. You're lucky our kind heals fast, otherwise, you'd be dead. Honestly, the doctorsare amazed you recovering as fast as you are. You were just moved from the ICU not thirty minutes ago."
Nodding absentmindedly she asked, "You said Stackhouse was admitted with me?" The nurse just nodded, eyes running over Justine's file.
"Yes. She's in a coma." The nurse briefly looked at Justine out of the corner of her eyes, looking for a reaction. Justine just hummed noncommittally, not really caring either way. "Your group of friends, they're in Miss Stackhouse's room, if you'd like me to tell them your awake. They've been waiting for you to get out of surgery."
"Um, yeah. Yeah, that'd be great," she replied. Catching the nurse's arm as she left, she thanked her.
"Oh, it's not a problem. Believe me, you aren't the first supernatural to stumble in here and need help. You'll be just fine in a few days." The two shared a smile but as Justine shifted to get comfortable, she winced in pain. The nurse quickly gave her a good helping of morphine before leaving with a smile.
Justine's eyes were only closed for a moment when Alcide and, much to her surprise, Lafayette, burst into the room. Smiling, she laughed and started crying the moment her second best friend sat on the edge of her bed and hugged her gently.
"Hookah, between you and Sookie, I am gonna have gray hair," was Lafayette's greeting.
Face scrunched up, she stared up at him. Head feeling a little bit like a bobble head doll, she replied, "But you don't have any hair." Lafayette immediately burst out laughing, and it didn't take long for Justine and Alcide to join. Although he felt a bit uncomfortable, watching the two friends from the corner of the room, like some voyeur, Alcide was content. "The nurse, she told me Sookie is in a coma. What happened?" Lafayette turned to look at the Werewolf behind him, who immediately walked to stand on the other side of the Shifter. He quickly explained about Bill draining Sookie, her not having a blood type, and how the transfusion of the universal donor O almost killed her but put her in a coma instead. Justine scoffed and shook her head, waving a hand around dazedly. "I told her being locked up with him in the back was a bad idea, but she didn't listen. Hate to say I told you so."
Lafayette gave his friend a hard yet amused look and told her, "We's both know you love sayin' I told you so, but now ain't the time."
"That's why I didn't say it," she retorted and the two shared a grin.
"So how you feelin', gurl?" Justine grinned impishly.
"I feel fan-fucking-tastic!" she giggled, quite out of character for her, and both men shared a looked. While Alcide chuckled quietly to himself, not wanting to spoil the moment between the two friends, Lafayette laughed outright and loud.
"Girl, we need to get you out of here and off this morphine," he stated, lightly picking up the IV. "I can't take much more of this girly, giggling shit from you." That just made her laugh even harder and he sighed, shaking his head at her. When she calmed down, she looked at Alcide for the first time.
"Hello, stranger." Alcide smiled, shaking his head, as the Justine he knew came out. Moving closer, he sat in the chair next to her bed and took her hand, which she was holding out for him. "Seeing as how I've been on unconscious, I don't know if you two have officially met. Alcide, this is my second best friend and co-worker Lafayette Reynolds. Lafayette, this is Alcide Herveaux my…" Justine stared at Alcide hard, trying to find a good word to describe him but nothing came to her. "…my new friend." She giggled and the men shared a look clearly saying that they needed to get her off the morphine and fast.
"Yeah, gurl, we met and I'm gonna get back to Sookie and let ch'all…" He stood up and waved a hand between them. Embarrassed, Alcide shifted awkwardly in his seat. After sending his dear friend a devious wink and smirk, he went to the door. But not before nodding for Alcide to follow him. After making sure Justine, who was starting to doze off, was okay Alcide followed Lafayette. "I don't know you," he whispered, "but Tara vouched for you so I'ma trust you wit' my gurl here. But you best watch yourself," he added, leaning in closer, "because I will beat your ass if anything happens to her. You feel me?" Alcide nodded, not scared at all because he knew he would be able to take the other man easily, but respecting the threat and the man before him. Lafayette nodded, glad that the two of them had an understand. He nodded for Alcide to go back to Justine. As the Werewolf took his friend's hand, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek, he pursed his lips and mumbled "Ooh" under his breath. Despite wearing a jumpsuit, this Alcide Herveaux sure did have a nice ass, Lafayette thought.
