A/N: I would just like to thank everyone right now who has taken the time to favorite, comment, critique and alert my story. I would particularly like to thank those of you who have taken the time to comment on each chapter as it comes out. You know who you are and I thank you. As a writer here, we all want to know what our readers think. Always. I try to reply to all of them if I can.

And hey Dead Reckoning is right around the corner. I will try to get a chapter up before then but if not there might be a brief delay in posting in order to enjoy Mrs. Harris' latest work.

Disclaimer: Sookie, Niall and Eric and Pam belong to Charlaine Harris.


Chapter 9:

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I've ended up where I needed to be." – Douglas Adams


November 3rd

"So I'm sitting there on the bed thing in the office filling out this donation form before the doc comes in – it's one of those forms, you know, what do you want to give away if you die. And I sat there for a good long while trying to decide what to give away, since, you know, I'll be dead and I won't need it," said Steven before pausing. Steven who works the front desk, Abigail and her friend from HR, Martin and I were all sitting in the hotel bar having what they referred to as "a pint." More like a dozen.

"What took you so long to decide, if you're gonna be dead," asked Martin.

"Well, there was a check list – liver, heart, lungs, kidney but I had to stop at the eyes. I was very concerned."

We all started giggling at that. "Wait, wait," Abigail started, "Ok, tell us, why would you not want to give away you eyes?"

"Well, I know a lot of people don't believe this but what if there's some kinda afterlife when we die?"

"What's that gotta do with donating eyes," I interrupt. I can start to see his mind formulating his thoughts. Oh, Lord.

"Well if there is an afterlife, I don't want to be running around for all eternity with no eyes, do I?"

We all burst out laughing. It can't be helped. After about thirty seconds it starts subsiding, only to kick back up again when we see how serious he looks.

"Ok," Martin picks up in between panting laughter, "what makes you think that donating eyes is going to make you eyeless in the afterlife?" He can't stop snickering through his question.

"And what makes you want your eyes more than your heart or your liver or lungs," I ask. "They're all kind of important." I sip my pint, which Abigail ordered, since I know nothing of Australian beers. She said this one is some kind of Renaissance Porter. Whatever that means.

"Well, you're dead. You don't need them. What would you use 'em for, right," he states, completely straight-faced, before taking a swig of his pint.

"Maybe we should ask a vampire," says Abigail.

"I'm sure vampires would prefer not have a place were they can be staked," I mumble.

They all turn to stare at me.

"What?" I stare back. "It's true. A vampire's heart is one of its only weaknesses."

"You know a lot of vampires 'Bina," asks Martin, with a curious expression.

"It's common knowledge back home." Time to deflect. "So Steven, you think you're gonna need your eyes in the afterlife? What makes you think you wouldn't just go there whole?" I try to stifle a laugh as I say it. This is too ridiculous.

"Well I don't want to be dead and blind in the afterlife, do I? Who wants to go walking into things for all eternity?"

No one holds back their laughter. Oh, sweet Jesus almighty.

"What a brilliant image!"

"Wait, wait, so would you at least get a walking stick in the afterlife," asks Abigail.

"That would be a nice concession," I snicker. "But I don't get it. How are you…surviving in the afterlife with no heart but yet you're worried about the eyes?"

"Yeah, and if you're dead in this afterlife, or whatever, why would you need anything? It's the afterlife; certainly you would have everything already," Martin counters.

"Well, when you die, you're always in the last condition you were in when you die, you know?"

"No," we all say in unison.

He sighs, "Well, say someone dies some horrible death, like um…getting shot in the face, they go off to the afterlife like that. A totally bloody mess, right?"

"But they're still moving around in the afterlife," I say. "They're not bumping into anything." Where was I going with this? "They're there…existing."

"Well if the eyes are intact, they're not – "

"Now hold off," Abby jumps in, "in this afterlife of yours, the dead person's got its face shot off, so you can presume that it doesn't need its face to begin with, including the eyes."

"The dead person is always the way they were in their last bits of life, forever."

"Yeah, if you're a vampire, and if you got hurt as a human and you were turned, then you'd be healed." Unless something went wrong. Then you got Bubba. "But we're not talkin' vamps. We're talking about people in the afterlife, or ghosts, or whatever," I state.

"Who made up these rules on the afterlife anyway," asks Martin.

"Well, if a vampire had injuries when they were human, wouldn't they still have 'em as a vamp? Same rules apply."

"No they don't." We say in unison again. Lord, we should form a team.

"A vamp is still walking around. You're talking about dead, dead. It's totally different," I argue.

"Ok, so let me see if I got this right. So if you die while you're say, in surgery, with you're chest all opened with clamps and whatnot, you're tellin' me that's how you're gonna stay for all eternity," asks Martin while trying to withhold a snort.

"Well, I suppose that would be a good reason not to have your eyes then."

I spit my beer out. I actually, for the first time in my life, spit out my beer while laughing. Abigail snorted hers up through her nose and was now alternating between laughing and coughing. Martin was leaning back in his chair grinning like a madman and shaking his head. My sides started to hurt from it.

After I finished my pint I made my excuses to get going. I was already out later than I had planned and even if no one knows me here, I still worry about staying out after dark. It was too tempting though, to stay and have drinks with some of the staff when they invited me. It wasn't that I was starving for companionship or anything, being as I didn't have many friends in Bon Temps but it was just so nice being invited out for drinks like a normal person, to a normal bar. Even if it happened to be a bar residing in my place of employment. As least that part seemed to stay the same. The discounted drinks are nice though.

Unfortunately, the more alcohol that got in me, the worse my shields got. It was quite the incentive to stay sober. With the last pint, I could feel my shields slipping even when I was trying to keep them at my highest. It was really starting to give me a migraine. So I made my excuses. We all had work tomorrow and I could tell from their thoughts that they'd be calling it in after another drink or two. Apparently Steven was like that anytime he drank. If for only that reason, I would enjoy going out with them again. I can't remember the last time I had laughed so hard. It was invigorating. There was very little in the past year to really laugh about.

I headed over to the employees lounge, which was a room behind the filing area that the reception desk used, to get my purse. I left it there knowing I was only going to the hotel's bar. Since there were so many on staff the lounge had numerous tables and chairs and small lockers for everyone to keep their personal affects in. I grabbed my purse out of my locker and began making my way back out to the front. It was in the staff area behind reception that I ran into Nicki.

"Hey Nicki," I said. I was unsure if there was still awkwardness between us. I really didn't want to find out just now considering the trouble I was having holding my shields together.

"Heyya. How was your day off," she asked with some mild curiosity. She was sitting at one of the computers with some type of Excel looking spreadsheet open.

"Great. Spent most of it at the beach, as usual." Having a beach nearby was such a wonderful bonus.

"I can tell," she said giving me a once over. "Your tan looks great."

I was practically brown at this point. And will the dark hair now, it really made my eyes pop.

Nicki made a sudden motion with her head, cocking to an odd angle. Her brows drew together, "Someone is asking for you out front."

"What?" I turned and looked out through the square window in the door to see what was going on. Trevor, one the reception people was there; he must have just started his shift while I was in the lounge. He was speaking with another man who had cropped, light golden brown hair and very pale skin with numerous freckles. He wasn't very tall, not much more than 5'9" but looked well muscled through his blue linen shirt.

I couldn't hear their conversation through the door but my shields were low enough that I was able to put my mental feelers out and stretch them right into a void. Crap. Trevor's head was foggy mess of glamour thanks to Freckles. He was showing Trevor a picture of me, I could see that part clearly, except I had much longer blonde hair in it and my tan was hardly there. He was having some trouble recognizing me through the glamour. Good.

Then Freckles had to go and say my name. Both of them. Even through the fog I could see his recognition at Sabrina's name. Luckily for me though, Trevor thought I had left already and said as much.

"Problem," Nicki asked with a skeptical voice.

I turned back to face her. "It's a vampire who's asking about me." She was eyeing me with a curious expression. As much as I was trying to block her I could feel some of her feelings slip into my mind. Curiosity was the main one.

"You have some history with vampires, I take it." She got up from her computer to look through the window. Then she turned back to me for confirmation.

"Yes." I had no intention of elaborating. "I would prefer if none knew where I worked."

"You do realize we have facilities to accommodate vampires, right?"

"I know that." Duh, of course I know that. That's what the 16th floor is for. "But if they were just asking for a room, why ask specifically for me?" Someone just visiting wouldn't ask for what I do.

Nicki looked back out the door where the vampire was still questioning Trevor. He was attempting to glamour him to get my personnel file with my address. "I will take care of the vampire. I do not want disturbances for the guests or my staff. Leave through the back," she said before stepping back and opening the door.

I stayed to watch Nicki take over speaking with Freckles, leaving Trevor to come out of the glamour on his own. I saw his nostrils flair as he took in her Were scent. She knew better than to look him in the eye and instead kept her focus on the reservation computer or the desk. He asked her about me and after hitting a wall with her answers, asked for a room for the next few days. I took that as my sign to high tail it out of there before he moves from the desk.

By the time I get home I'm panting from the near run. At least I burned off the alcohol, I thought. I had my hand cupped around a small silver butterfly knife that I started keeping with me when I got here.

Not ten minutes later, Nicki's name is lighting up my phone.

"Hello?"

"Sabrina, I don't know what's going on with you or why you have vampires asking for you. It's not my place to ask, however, I cannot have my staff in fear of any vampire guests." Shit. She's going to fire me now. "The vampire you saw has checked in as a guest at the hotel. Now I also cannot have him glamouring my staff into revealing your whereabouts," she paused, "so I have removed your file from employee records for the duration of his stay."

Huh? "Why would you do that?"

"While it is not illegal to glamour people, no one can actually prove its being done. I do not want him hypnotizing my staff during the night when neither of us is there into giving him your address. It would be…dangerous for a member of my staff should a vampire know where they live without their given consent."

Stunned.

"And since you clearly want nothing to do with vampires, this is the best solution."

"You're looking out for me?" I really had made a friend.

"I am. Now listen, you're hours are going to change starting tomorrow. Instead of ten, I want you in hear no later than eight-thirty and I want you out of the hotel by five for the next week. Is that clear?"

"As a window."

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow." Then she hung up.

I plopped down on the sofa and stared at the ceiling. I had a Were friend looking out for me. She knows nothing about me or what I can do and –

She didn't ask anything. Nothing about me or from me. This must be what it's like to not have expectations from people. I never thought Nicki would consider helping someone with vampire problems. Actually I never considered someone helping me before I had helped them. Someone was always asking me to do something for them and now without any preemption, someone did something for me.

While I was cooking dinner – wild rice with stir fried vegetables, I got a second unexpected phone call. This time from Niall.

"Great Granddaughter, I have had my people searching the realms these past few weeks they have finally come across what you requested."

Wait, weeks? "Another telepath? And what do you mean weeks? We spoke to each other two days ago."

"My dear, time works differently in the realms and yes, I have found another telepath. There should not be further discussion on it now. We will be arriving at your door in approximately one hour."

Well that was quick. "Oh. Okay."

Things were moving quickly now. Somehow a vampire found me. It couldn't have been the same vampire in the parking lot. They could have followed me then instead of trying to get my address from the hotel. And that other vamp – it doesn't add up if that vampire was looking for me, it found me so why ask for an address.

The possibility of different vampires looking for me struck then and it wasn't a welcome thought. I was becoming careless with my nighttime routine and if I really wanted to disappear, more effort would have been used. If anyone outside Eric or Pam found out too many things could end up falling apart. More so even than if just Eric and Pam found out.

But no one was getting into my apartment. And with the long days, getting home before dark wasn't even an issue. Unless I wanted to enjoy that social part of life I started.

Finding another telepath was integral. I needed to know about reading other supernaturals. There might have been some peace from the silence of vampire minds and the haziness of shifters but at the price of how many more beatings and shootings and near death experiences? If it can be controlled, I can still have my peace; and an advantage no one would expect. Hiding my disability now is impossible. Vampires know about it, shifters and fairies know about it – they all accept it and want to use it. I had never wanted to be in anyone else's thoughts before I got entangled with the supernatural.

The irony was not lost that the ones I should be reading could not be read.

Exactly one hour later there is a knock at my door.

"Good Evening, Great Granddaughter," Niall said. He was in what seemed to be normal attire for him; a three piece navy pinstripe suit with a white shirt. Standing with him was a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties with cameral colored skin and shoulder length black hair that fell in waves around his head. He was tall; maybe six feet, but the most striking thing about him were his eyes. They were large and almond shaped and the most fantastic shade of green I had ever seen. He was dressed far more casually in a pair of fit, dark wash men's skinny jeans and a charcoal grey and black Henley shirt.

"Good Evening, Great Grandfather and Mr. …?"

"This is Enki Berg. Enki, this is my granddaughter, Sookie."

"Hello Sookie," he said while taking my hand lighting and giving it a small kiss. I got nothing from his mind. Absolutely nothing. It was like he wasn't even there. No void, no buzz, no haze, just…nothing.

My eyes went wide and he smiled. "Would you like to come in," I asked in a slightly awed voice.

After they got settled on the couch and I brought out some iced tea and cookies I took a seat in my chair opposite the couch and waited for them to tell me what was going on.

"Sookie, let me start my saying finding a telepath of Enki's caliber was not easy. Had it not been for my connections in the various realms outside here and Fairy, it would not have been possible." Is he trying to tell me I owe him one?

"Enki, perhaps you should explain from here," Niall states and turns to face Enki on the couch.

"Sookie, Niall has told me of your interest to work on your telepathy. I have to tell you that before anything else, you should consider the risks there." He stops here to look directly at me. "I was born here, in this realm approximately 400 years ago and I've had to spend most of my time in another realm to escape the threats posed to me here."

"Four hundred years? Are you a fairy too?" His thick hair hid his ears.

"No. I am half human, half elf. Elves come from a similar line to the fairies." I could hear Niall make a small snorting sound as he sipped his tea. "Like fairies though, telepathy does not run as an elfin trait, which means, somewhere in our genealogies, something of ours is from the same thing – human, supernatural or other, we both have that."

Well, now we're getting somewhere. "What threats have you had to escape from?" If they were anything like what I've been through I could so understand.

"When I was a boy, I was raised in what is now Germany, close to the Swiss border. It was a tumultuous time then. There was a war between the Holy Roman Empire and the Protestants who lead the Reformation. Death and disease were everywhere. As a child, I overheard some villagers who were loyal to the empire and planning to slaughter the local leaders who were all of the Protestant faith. I wasn't listening to them speak, if you know what I mean." He raised an eyebrow at me.

Oh yes, I know what he means. I nod.

"So naturally, I did what any boy would do. I went and told my father. When I told him I heard it in their heads he looked at me like I was some sort of abomination. I thought it was a gift from God for being a faithful Christian." He looked down and shook his head from side to side before continuing. "I didn't know I was half elf at the time. My mother, who I later learned was a full elf had died a few years after my birth; I was never sure how. Somehow she had kept her secret from my father. I wasn't very old when I realized I had the ability to dip into peoples minds and see their innermost thoughts at work. Since the village was small and mostly agricultural, I didn't run into so many people that it became a problem at first. It took me a while to differ between the things they though and the things they said."

"Yes, I had the same problem growing up."

"So you can imagine the sort of reputation I started building amongst the other children?"

"Oh, yes. I can most definitely imagine that."

"It was lucky for me then that it was only the children who thought anything of it. If the adults had known right then I would have probably been burned at the stake." He shook his head.

It dawned on me then the type of lifestyle I would have led if I was born even as little as fifty years ago. Being born with this disability was hard enough but to be born with it in the middle of a religious war? "But you didn't think anything of it then, did you?"

"No. I just thought God had graced me. Since I didn't know about my elfin side, I didn't know that I was able to very easily build a wall to block their thoughts. I had assumed it was part of my gift."

Huh. Lucky him.

"Niall has told me you have not been so fortunate. It's something you have expressed interest in working on, yes?"

I nodded.

"Being half elf made it easier to shield but it was not without difficulty. I would be more than amenable to teaching you to block with ease."

"That would be wonderful. You have no idea what a struggle it is to maintain the concentration it takes to keep my shields in place. Even with all the improvements I've made in the last few years, it's still really hard. When I get tired or stressed or even if I have one drink too many, my shields start to slip and I can't keep out anything." I wonder if I had been half fae I wouldn't have problems blocking thoughts.

"I think we should be able to start tomorrow if you like," he said, looking at me then at Niall, who had remained quite throughout Enki's summarized history.

"That would be great. I get off work at five so we could meet here then, unless you have somewhere else in mind?"

"Here will be fine. I will call on you at six, if that's alright."

I nodded.

"Excellent. Niall has also informed me about your interest in increasing your telepathy but he was not very clear about it." Enki shifted so that he was leaning over with his elbows in his knees. "You would be entering very dangerous territory if you wanted to read supernaturals, Sookie."

I knew what he was telling me. I already had my hands full just being able to clearly read humans. Reading shifters and even vampires would make me even more desired and targeted. I don't know if it's possible to read elves or fairies or demons. I don't want to find out.

When the silence grew more pressing Niall spoke, "Sookie, Enki doesn't want to scare you but he is right. What you are asking is very dangerous and you are too exposed here."

"I know. I know the risks if supes thought I could hear them. But I need to know if I can. And I need to know if I can better block them too."

"Sookie, finding out that I could read other Supes was the reason I had to leave this realm. Shortly after I had told my father what I heard I was contacted by my Elfin kin during the night. I couldn't read their minds; just like I imagine you can't read the minds of your fairy kin," I nodded in agreement, "They came and told me it was no longer safe where I was. The human war was attracting all sorts of supernatural creatures to the area. Vampires flocked there for the easy food. Wolves enjoyed the hunting grounds of the forests nearby.

"They took me from my home that night and I never saw my father again. It wasn't until a few nights later when I came across a shifter that I realized I could read someone who wasn't human."

"What did their mind look like to you," I asked. I wondered if we saw them the same way.

"It was hazy at first. I got a lot of random pictures and swirls of emotions. None of it was clear. Is it the same for you?"

I wondered why he wasn't just looking into my mind to see for himself. But maybe he was just trying to offer me the same courtesy I always did by trying to stay out of peoples heads. "Yes, although some shifters are slightly stronger than others. And usually I can pick something up from a shifter if they are thinking directly at me or about me."

"Hmm. Well, I didn't interact with a lot of shifters at first to test that theory for myself. It was a few years later, after I had been living with my elfin Aunt and Uncle that I encountered my first vampire." Suddenly, I had a clear view into his mind, like he pulled back the dark curtains from a window to let all the light in. "I remember him quite well. I was in France by then – quite a change from the wars plaguing central and Eastern Europe. He was quite young; he didn't look much older than me at the time with pale hair and high cheekbones and seemed quite protective over another young looking vampire with reddish – "

I had to stop him. "You met Andre? And you're alive?" How is it they kept encountering telepaths? "And with Sophie-Anne?"

His eyebrows made their way up his forehead. "You know them?"

"Oh yes. I knew them. Sophie-Anne was the Queen of Louisiana in the States. Andre was her child and second in command. Sophie-Anne had sent a vampire to my town in order to procure my telepathy for her court." I still shudder at the thought of being forced to work at the palace. "Andre cornered me during a vampire summit in Rhodes were I was contracted to use my telepathy and tried to force me to drink his blood."

I glanced at Niall who had a resolute and rather stony expression on his face. "They're dead now. Andre at the summit, Sophie-Anne during the takeover," I said glancing back and fourth between them before settling back on Niall who remained looking stoic. "It doesn't matter what they did now. You can't kill them again."

His mouth twitched slightly upward.

"What happened when you met them, Enki?"

"Andre noticed me first. He attempted to corner me in an alley but by then I had already started lessons in combat and defense at the request of my Uncle. I was able to fend him off long enough to get out of his grasp and teleport away." And there I was thinking that was just a fairy thing.

He played it for me like a movie reel in his mind; his attempts to fend off Andre's attack with well placed jabs and kicks. It seemed the only thing that kept him alive that night was the element of surprise over Andre. Then we were both suddenly in Andre's mind. He thought Enki's smoky scent and probably similar tasting blood would be a wonderful treat to share with his Maker. It was the scariest mind I'd ever been in. Scarier even than the first time I accidently slipped into Eric's the first time.

He was looking at me with hard eyes and tight mouth. My eyes widened. "How did you do that? You were inside…" I didn't even want to say it. He lifted his eyebrow and shifted his eyes to Niall and back to me without moving his face from mine.

Yes, reading vampire minds was not something a fairy prince should be privy to. And Niall did like his power.

Niall was watching us intently as the silent conversation passed between us. He didn't like being left out of the loop. "Sookie?"

"Oh. Sorry, Great Grandfather. Enki was just able to project an image through all my shields. I was surprised," I smiled in what I hoped looked like a shy and slightly embarrassed way. Lying: not my favorite thing to do but occasionally unavoidable.

Lying will always be a part of who we are.

I turned to look at him. Everyone has a right to keep their secrets. Some of us more than others.

"Please continue, Enki. What happened after you escaped from Andre? Were you able to read his thoughts?" I imagine Niall believes you can't, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here.

A knowing smile crept across his lips. "No, his head was a void: nothingless. I had never been so happy not to be able to read a mind before or since."

"It's the only real silence I get as well." Unfortunately not without its own price.

"The quiet of the farmlands was the most peace I got. It wasn't so difficult then since the people lived in smaller communities. Being elfin, I couldn't read my family at first. It wasn't until years later that my mind was strong enough to invade theirs. When local gossip about me spread however, that was when the vampires and weres and shifters started showing up. At first just in the village, questioning people, then at night there was talk of strange creatures walking about and people losing time…Eventually we had to leave, only for the same thing to happen again. After one particularly nasty vampire tried to spirit me away did my Aunt and Uncle decide to take me out of this realm."

"Do the elves feel the same way about half elves or quarter elves that some fairies do about part fairies?" I felt it was in poor taste to ask with Niall sitting right there but curiosity was getting the better of me.

"Some do. There will always be factions that hate, no matter what realm you are in. I do not regret my time there, despite certain unwelcome comments from others. I live there still, technically. Now I move between the realms to conduct business using my telepathy. It's quite profitable," he said with a sad little smile.

I felt a strange sense of kinship with this man. More so than anyone before. He understood. He understood the downside to telepathy. He understood the way the supernatural world just seemed to take. And take. And take. Until there was nothing left. He was part of two worlds and not part of any. I felt like I was looking a mirror and seeing the future me for a minute.

Now I just needed the other shoe to drop. "And you would be willing to help me," I asked. I wasn't quite sure I could believe it yet.

"Yes." You and I are similar creatures. No one else will put us first but us.

I smiled at him. It was a genuine smile and one even happier than I'd had when I was laughing in the bar earlier tonight. I took his hand and squeezed it.

"Thank you."


A/N: Chapter 10: I can do what with my mind?

Things to come: What do you do when someone shouts "fire?"

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