Trading Places
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the True Blood characters (*sigh* unfortunately) but I'm having fun playing with them! I only own my original story plots and characters.
Chapter 7
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Roanne POV
The Louisiana heat was killing me. The humidity was crazy. I had only done a few bits in the garden and I had retreated under the back porch to the shade; the little drop of perspiration rolling down my back.
I'd been pottering about in the garden… missing my greenhouse from home terribly. I thought the summer would be the best thing ever… no school… no homework…I could do what I wanted to do. It turns that the reality however, wasn't so much fun. Sookie was working four long shifts a week at Merlotte's bar. I had gone over there the first few days and hung out, but Sam was getting peeved when we talked and I was stuck there until Jason came to pick us up or my other option was to cycle home….which was an eternity away in the blistering heat.
I have resigned myself to making the most of the situation; reading books, gardening and practicing the piano. I'd had lessons when I was little but it had been a long time since I'd played… I got a second hand keyboard in the local buy sell magazine and downloaded some music books from my laptop. I'd not doing too bad… ish! Meh… maybe I wont be the next Mozart but I'm enjoying it!
Godric had been great about me and the whole 'not going back to school'… not that it was his choice… but I guess he could have made things difficult for me. I haven't seen him in ages either… he's stuck doing business and said he has to do some travelling that makes it hard to get back before sunrise… which sucks… I never thought I could grow to like Godric… but he's fast becoming a friend… proving himself to be someone who seems to genuinely care.
There was something else that was on my mind lately too…
I had never really bothered with my magic before. My mum had told me about the whole 'her being a Fae/witch/seer' thing… but up until now I just accepted I had a few weird dreams about things that hadn't happened yet and blew the odd light bulb out when I was angry… but lately I was wondering if I could train myself to do more… time for meditation…
...
I spread my flower pattern pilates mat on the sitting room floor and did some stretches to loosen up my muscles. Sitting down on the mat; I lit the candles in front of me and closed my eyes. Ok Roanne… clear your mind… breathe in… and out…
I'd done this a few times before… opening my eyes and trying to blow out the candles with my mind… I'd managed a vague flickering… but that could have been (and most likely was) a draft from outside…
… clear your mind… breathe in… and out…
… clear your mind… breathe in… and out…blow out the fucking candles
… clear your mind… breathe in… and out…
… clear your mind… breathe in… and out…
["Hi what can I get for you tonight?" Sookie looked a little older and ecstatically happy. "Do you have any of that synthetic bottled blood?"….. "Ms Stackhouse, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"…. "I know what Sookie is…." Eric? …. "Well why don't you tell Sookie the fucking truth; if you really love her" … "There's only one way I see this ending, and it's me walking away with neither of you"]
My eyes snapped open then. The candles were out. I slumped forward onto my hands and knees and vomited violently onto the floor; every muscle in my stomach and back screaming as I wretched up the contents of my lunch onto the hardwood floor. I slumped to the ground; my energy sapped.
My stomach curdled even more then… as I tasted blood that dripped down my lips into my mouth; my nose was bleeding.
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Godric POV
I woke from my day rest with a start. Something was wrong with Roanne. I didn't know why I knew this… it was just the same as when she was upset last time. I could feel it… feel it as clearly as if I had filled her body with my blood.
AGGGGGGGGHHHHH. I growled and hissed with frustration. I was trapped. I was in a guest coffin of the king of Utah on business and it was the middle of the day. My phone.
Ring ring. Ring ring. Damn it Roanne, pick up. PICK UP.
"Henooo"
"Roanne?"
"Godnic…. Yeah… its nee"
"What's wrong with your voice? What happened? Are you ok?"
"Snow downnn…. I got a nows bneed and I hand tissue shoved up ny nows"
"What?"
"hnang on….. I said: I have a nose bleed and I had tissues stuck up my nose. Hey… wait… how can you ring during the day… or is it night where you are?"
"A nose bleed? Just a nose bleed?"
Did she really have that much stress over a nose bleed?
"What else happened?"
"Well… hey, wait… why are you asking? What do you know?"
Hmmm…. So there was something else. "Are you safe Roanne?"
"Yes… I'm perfectly safe"
"Ok…I will speak to you when I get back. It shouldn't be more than three or four days".
I wished I could have gone to her as soon as the sun set but I had business to attend to on behalf of my king and I could not leave the king of Utah's court hastily… it would be against my orders and against protocol.
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Roanne POV
I sat at the kitchen table; nursing my slowly subsiding nose bleed. That had been the strongest vision I ever had… by a long shot. There were two things on my mind at this minute…. 1) Godric knew something and he was hiding it from me and 2) how the hell do I tell Sookie what I saw…
….
"Hey Roanne… make it quick; Sam will kill me if he sees me on my phone while I'm working" I had rang Sookie a few hours later… I had mulled things over in my mind and came to the conclusion that Sookie was too much of a good friend to not tell her what I knew… after all, I should be able to trust her with a secret… she had secrets too…
"Sorry Sook…. Do you wanna stay over tonight… no one is home and I thought we could have a girlie break… seeing as you only have to work tomorrow for a half shift then you have the next two days off?"
"Brill… that sounds like a plan… Gran's got all the ladies bridge club coming over and I need to be out of the house anyhow… 'Sookie where are you?'... shit here comes Sam"
My phone went dead… it seemed everyone was hanging up on me today. I had tidied up my mess in the living room and the little candles were sitting on the kitchen table. I made myself a cup of tea and sat down at the table again… staring at the candles. I wonder if I made them go out? Wouldn't it be cool if I could make them light again. Pffttt …all five candles were lighting… I jumped backwards; spilling some of my tea on my lap. Plucking up courage… I concentrated hard and they went out again… lit again….out again…lit again…
I'll admit I did this quite a few times… it's a little addictive… so I'm a human lighter! Cool. I wiped at my nose… pleased to see that it hadn't bled again. I started to feel tired then… worn out. I closed the doors and windows… turning on the air-conditioning and headed up stairs. After a cool shower I fell onto the bed for a nap… letting all the new information soak in.
….
Ding dong ding dong ding dong
Shit…what time is it?
My alarm clock read 9.45pm…. crap… I'd been asleep for a few hours. I ran downstairs; flicking on the house lights as I went. Sookie was waiting outside.
"Jeez Roanne… I thought something had happened. I rang the bell tons of times and the house looked empty…"
"Crap, sorry Sook… I fell fast asleep. Come on in". I led Sookie into the house. This was the first time I'd asked someone to sleep over since I'd moved here. Sookie brought her little bag upstairs into the guest room beside mine.
"Do you want something to eat?" I asked, annoyed that I had slept for so long. I had wanted to prepare how I was going to talk to Sookie.
"Sure…. I'm starved"
Sookie and I chatted about everything and nothing as I prepared a salad to go with the chicken goujons I had cooking in the oven. After eating our food, I started to get really nervous.
"Roanne… something's up… I can tell that your mind is somewhere else, isn't it?" it was a statement rather than a question. I nodded…. Still stuck for words.
"Well, just tell me what's goin on… we're good friends and I will help you if I can or is it me? Do you still want to be friends?" I could tell that Sookie was starting to get a little nervous now too…. I only had to guess that she couldn't read my mind… otherwise she'd have known about vampires before.
"Sookie… what if I knew something about you… and about what you can do. What if I had secrets too… can I trust you not to freak out… and to keep a secret?" I'd never told anyone about what I could do but Sookie was a good friend and she was so unlike me either…
Sookie nodded… it was her turn to lose her voice.
"I know you can read minds… and that you can't read my mind".
Sookie immediately went pale… even with her summer tan, she looked almost grey looking.
"Ho…how?..." she spluttered, "how do you know?" she all but whispered.
"It's kind of a long story" I answered.
….
And I told her… I told her that I could see things in the future like my mum… that I could set things on fire… that I dreamt of her and her future… I told her about vampires… I told her about Bill… I told her almost everything…
….
"And this Bill… vampire Bill… he's sent to get me for a queen? He tricks me?... and it's Eric that's really a good guy?" I nodded "Well friggin' hell… that's a lot to take in. So…so that's why I can't read Godric or Eric?"
I nodded again "Yeah… but listen, they don't like humans knowing this stuff… and I don't think you can be glamoured…so… I don't think we should tell Eric or Godric….ok? and I'm sure how accurate my vision is" Now I was kind of getting worried; maybe I shouldn't have said anything… would Godric be pissed?
"Roanne… why are you living with Godric?" I had a feeling that might come up…. I guess I was hoping it wouldn't be tonight.
"My mum got sick and had to go back to her people… she's part Fae like you but she's got more in the mix too, and well, we don't have any family… and well…" I was getting a little embarrassed now "…She had a vision and I'm kinda meant to be with Godric". I was waiting for her reaction. Would she be disgusted at the thought of someone being with a vampire?
"That explains a lot Roanne… the way he looks at you… he's head over heels about you"
Her response surprised me, I hadn't thought he was that bad… maybe a little addicted to my blood….sure… but…
"How do you feel about him?" she asked.
"I…I don't know. At first I hated him but… I've become friends with him over the last few weeks but… I dunno… it still feels weird being fated to someone… hell…. I'm only 16"
"Hey… can… can I see you light the candle?"
….
"WOW" she exclaimed as I lit the candle and put it out again. I loved how accepting she was of the whole situation. I couldn't have asked for a better reaction.
"So… you might have Fae in you too?" she asked.
"Yeah…maybe… my abilities have come as I've got older" I answered truthfully; glad to have someone to talk about all this stuff now that my mom wasn't here.
"I've had my disability since I can remember"
"Don't Sookie… don't call it a disability. I know things have been hard for you… but it's a gift"
Sookie started to cry. "I've never been able to speak to someone about this so openly Roanne. I've spent all my life thinking I was a freak…. Crazy Sookie… and I was so fed up with everything"
"Well…. Let's make a change. You Sookie Stackhouse and I Roanne Whitford are going to be best friends. We are going to develop our powers. We are going to be strong confident women…"
"…and we will not let people use us for our gifts. We will be the ones in control." Sookie added.
"We will be ready for the vampires…for Bill…." I continued.
And there it was… our pact. We decided to keep the information between ourselves for the moment… only telling Godric about Bill when we needed to. We agreed to start meditating together and focusing to see what powers we had. And… most importantly, we agreed that we were both sick of being goodie two shoed school freaks and as such…. We were going to have a badass summer.
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Sookie POV
Oh my good lord in heaven, I can't believe I'm about to do this. The pact made between Roanne and I had meant so much to me. Tara had always been a good friend, but since I met Roanne I've changed. We've become great friends… and more importantly, for the first time in my life… I have someone to talk to openly about my disabili…gift. Yes… gift. Roanne was right. My mind reading was who I was…. And it wasn't going away, so I might as well embrace it.
However, that didn't excuse what I was doing right now. Roanne and I had both discussed that we would do something a little wild today… nothing crazy… just push the boundaries a little. So here I was….behind the bar of Merlottles about to steal two beers. I knew it was wrong… but I'd put the money in the till so Sam wouldn't be out of pocket but now my hands were shaking. Come on Sookie… now or never. I grabbed two beers and along with the dirty towels and aprons, stood up and walked out back. My heart was thumping like a jackhammer. Sam was still out front talking to the delivery guys, so I ran into the office and put the two bottles into my bag…careful to pack them in a way that they wouldn't clink when I went to go back to Roanne's. The guilt instantly washed over me… I knew I'd be going to confession before church next Sunday… but dang if I didn't feel a little alive too!
…..
"Roanne….Roanne…. open the door"
"Jeez Sookie….what's the panic?"
I pushed by Roanne as soon as she opened the door, leading my back into the wall.
"Sookie….what's wrong? Did something happen?" Roanne asked, peeking back outside the front door.
"I keep thinkin the police are gonna sneak up any second" Roanne looked at me puzzled… so I reached into my workbag and took out the two beers.
"Oh my GOD…. Sookie…. You didn't?" Roanne was hollering and laughing so hard.
"I'm so proud… you rebel! Come on…. Let's put on some burgers to have with them".
So we sat on the back porch… eating burgers and drinking our first beers. I felt truly alive and happy…and I never laughed as hard when Roanne told me what her stunt had been… she had crept into a garden nearer the town and taken a load of gnomes out of a garden. She said the garden was full of them…. It could only have been one garden… Maxine Fortenbury's… and Roanne had moved all the gnomes, a few at a time into a garden a few houses down…. Putting the gnomes into as many lewd positions as possible! I would have loved to have been there….
….
The sun was beaming in the window of the little café that Roanne and I were in. I had passed my driving test today and Gran had let me borrow her car. We were in Shreveport, in a small café, stuffing out faces with bowls of pistachio flavoured ice-cream. We were laughing about the current scandal going around Bontemps about the 'savage attack on Mrs. Fortenbury's gnome garden'. Mrs. Fortenbury had even made her son Hoyt stand guard when he wasn't working with the Road crew. I stopped laughing; my face growing serious.
"What's wrong Sookie"
How the hell did I get landed with such a fucking shitty job? Mindin' a fangers little fuck bag and her friend…. Can't even go nowhere cuz I gotta keep tabs on them and they keep fucking driving about…
"I think we're being followed" I whispered to Roanne. I let her know what I 'heard'.
"It must be Godric. Son of a bitch" she hissed through clenched teeth "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind when he gets back"
…
"So YES let us go to the library Roanne… to DO that school report for our Summer school"
Roanne threw me a dirty look that screamed 'stop over-acting'. I couldn't help it though… my nerves were at me something rotten… I wasn't good at lying like this.
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Roanne POV
Our plan was simple… try to convince the guy following us that we were going to be in the library for the day. If this worked….follow him, to find out where he goes and who he was. Sookie however was going to blow the plan if she kept this up.
"Yeah Sookie" I said, elbowing her in the ribs "it really sucks…but it's best to get this out of the way. We just need to put in a full days research and we can use the library computers to print up the report. We can head home about six when your brother meets us here for a lift home. Right?"
"Oh… YES" I rolled my eyes…. Sookie sucked at this.
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