A chance to talk with the woman who had raised me, taught me that being different brought power; that I was an evolved being who should never feel shame for what I am. A shape shifter of old, it is a blessing yet for me unable to transform my body into a superior creature, it only meant that I am vulnerable; unable to use my power to its true potential. Though what did magical powers matter in the real world; the world where people gained qualifications to secure a job. Because of my focus on revenge I had never had a job; I never thought I would live long enough to start a career.
For the first time in my life, I want something more than death. I want to live.
I also want revenge, revenge which would probably see the end to my own life.
"I ain't happy with this." The dark-skinned man says with arms folded around his chest "Sookie didn't say nothing about vampires, she one of you?" Lafayette asks Pam who stands beside me, inspecting her nails.
"Let's skip the introductions shall we, I want this done before the Sun makes an appearance. She's not a vampire if that's what you mean."
Lafayette's dress code is unusual; a bright pink scarf is wrapped around his head and a glittery vest top cover his obvious muscles. He was a mix of cross-dresser and a soldier; not what I expected. His eyes focus on me finally there's a fear in those eyes. "You saved Sook right?" I nod in response, he seems tense whether it's because of what we will do or the fact there was a vampire on his front door step. "I'm not inviting you in" he says to Pam, "you come in."
"Hurry up I'm already bored." States Pam as she leans against the fragile looking house.
With a nod at me Lafayette walks back inside and I can only follow. His house is different from the usual mediums, no dark curtains or mystical books carefully placed in view for customers. Instead there's an uncomfortable-looking sofa, a TV and a few religious figurines placed around a mirror. There isn't even a table holding a crystal ball; which can only mean this man did not use his 'talents' for business.
"Look I don't know what Sookie told you but I just want to get this done and over. This person you want to talk to, do you have anything of theirs with you?" He asks immediately directing me to join him on the floor.
"My ring" Reluctantly I slide the gold jewellery off and hand it over, "Lafayette, thank you for doing this." He shrugs with disinterest placing the ring in the middle of his palm before stretching his hand out to me, I take both his hands in my own; feeling the ring stuck between our joining hands.
"Now I can't promise anything will happen, who knows what might show up but either way, Sook no longer owes you all right?" He asks with a hint of warning and I nod in agreement. I know she will come. "Now close your eyes and think of 'em, think of the ring and its owner. If the dead have something to say..." he mumbles off clamping his eyes shut.
I close my own and feel his hand clenching mine tight as we sit with our hands joined together calling upon my mother. Silence fills the room as we remain still and unmoving, in my mind I feel myself reaching out into the dark calling for her.
"Someone's here" Lafayette whispers, I can't help but open my eyes at his words almost expecting Anne to be in the room. Lafayette almost looks asleep, "...does she have long greyish hair and scar down her left cheek?"
"Yes" I reply scanning the room.
"Then I guess she's here. Ask a question."
"Erm...mother Anne it's me. Listen I-I want you to forgive me; I don't think I can do it." The grip around my hand tightens as Lafayette starts to struggle against himself, his body moving in quick rapid motions. "Lafayette?" Then the pressure around my hand relaxes and his body calms down.
Lafayette inhales deeply as he stares upwards with eyes still closed "the air is different. Why have you called on me child?" slowly Lafayette turns to look at me through eyes that are not his own; they glistened black.
"M-mother Anne?" I no longer spoke to Lafayette this much is clear, the way his body relaxed and those piercing eyes were unfriendly and something beyond human.
"Child why am I here?" The voice of Lafayette asks impatiently.
"Mother I-Iask for your forgiveness." Those black eyes stare into my soul, this creature that takes possession of Lafayette is nothing like my Mother. "I cannot kill Bill Compton, at least not without losing my life."
He...no she pauses; her eyes quickly scan the room. "Child what has changed? You have your powers do you not? You can destroy that creature of darkness and save many a life. Why do you fear risking your life when you can be at peace with your family; all your family. They wait for you, to welcome you to their world. What is there to fear?" Her voice demands and once again I feel like the child.
"Mother Anne I do not want to die I want a future. I tried to kill him!"
"You did not try enough otherwise you would have succeeded. My child you are not using your powers to their full extent, you know this." She was different, more revengeful than she had been in life; this Anne is frightening.
"I only ask that you can forgive me, things have changed since you...since you-"
"Since I was murdered" her face relaxes, she places a hand on my knee. "Child I understand your fear but I do not ask a lot, that vampire is a murderer; the spirits demand his borrowed blood. Perhaps you will understand when you awake."
"What?"
The room seems to lose light as a shroud of darkness fills the air and then a flash of fiery light encircles her hand, our hands. She mutters something incoherent and a wave of darkness washes over my body
"You will understand." Her voice echoes before the world I know disappears.
Where am I? This place has a sense of wrongness; a baby wails continuously wriggling around inside a small cot. Nothing is out of the ordinary this is just an average bedroom filled with cuddly teddy bears and a pink wooden stool set beside the now rocking cot.
It's a piercing cry and I just want the baby to stop but as I reach for the child my hands drift through the small fleshy body as if I were a ghost. Am I dead? Or are these people dead? Fear would have taken over if not for the curiosity as a woman storms into the bedroom with her mobile phone clinging to her ear. Her face is pale with black marks beneath her eyelids, eyes glistening with tears that showed stress and age.
"She won't stop crying Brad, She never stops and now she's got a high temperature, maybe a fever I don't know anymore. Just come back home" She stumbles over towards the cot, towards me "she's burning up Brad, Its real bad." She says placing her hand against the baby's forehead unable to see me. Maybe I am dead. The mystery woman winces as she lifts up the shrieking baby allowing herself to cry along. "I can't do this Sophie" She sobs staring at the child, Sophie. "Why are you crying?" She demands of the baby; you can see the temptation in her eyes to shake Sophie.
The crying increases as Sophie becomes restless, shaking in her mother's grip in rapid movements, her skin dotted with flecks of purple and red. "Brad something's wrong! Something is wrong with Sophie!" The Mother says before dropping the phone to the carpet as she attempts to hold on to her struggling baby.
In one swift movement the child has disappeared and replaced with an odd colourful bird the length of the Mother's arm.
And then she screams, dropping the bird to the floor and dashing out of the room. Noise still emitting from the phone and the bird flopped over in a state of shock, unmoving.
I watch the peculiar creature with interest and fear, it was Sophie.
Footsteps slamming up carpeted stairs are heard before the woman charges back into the room with a rusty saucepan in hand. A cold chill captures me as I eye the saucepan, afraid to inhale or make any sound. Sophie the tiny phoenix lays outstretched, "S-sophie?" The woman asks raising the pan above her head.
I want her to remain still for fear that any move could trigger off the panicking woman. Instead 'Sophie' chirps as she raises her feathery head upwards, she chirps louder and more enthusiastically raising herself steadily onto her feet. She stretches out her wings and flies toward the woman and the saucepan comes down hard.
The loud bang echoes throughout the room, the woman stares with her mouth wide open. Panic and shock cross her face as she realises what she has done. Little Sophie now in her human form cries uncontrollably, curled up on the carpet screaming confused and in pain. The woman drops the pan, staring at the cursed weapon with hate, she rushes to the baby but stops herself from touching Sophie; she is afraid of her own child.
A red gash appears on Sophie's forehead, a treacle of blood trailing down the girls' nose. "What have I done?" The woman mutters as she stares. "I'm so sorry Sophie." We both watch the baby, the woman unable to will herself to move and me; unable to help. The woman gasps and I see what has caught her attention, the wound on Sophie's head is fading away. The trail of stained blood the only evidence of what has just happened, gone. "What are you?" She whispers.
The woman darts towards her phone on the floor, swiping it up quickly and coughing into the phone. "...Brad stop! Brad nothing happened...well...Sophie...she...she changed! We'll talk when you get here, but call that bloody woman. The palm reader...magnifico –fantastico woman; whatever she calls herself. Anne! Get that Anne woman!"
I feel my body shaking, being dragged from the fading scene and to another. I feel the tears sticking to my cheeks, I didn't realise I was crying.
The darkness around me begins to unfold once more; a small light opening up the eternal night that engulfs me, as the light grows brighter a new scene unfolds.
I'm standing in what appears to be a barn, or what would barely assemble one. Rotting wood shelters the two strangers who sit huddled against the nailed door, peeking through the many holes between each plank of wood.
"You hear them?" Her voice whispers, her fingers tightening on her partners shoulder.
He motions with his hand for her silence as he remains kneeling in the straw and his eyes focused solely on what lies beyond the door. Then I hear it, footsteps outside.
The woman begins to shake her head, "I cannot take this anymore" She whimpers and the footsteps stop. There is no sound.
"Move!" The man shouts suddenly as he pushes the woman away from their only exit, the door begins to shake as something tries to get in. Hand on her neck the woman moves closer to me, she can't see me, and these are all just memories of the past.
The door begins to creak and groan before it blasts open, shards of wood fly around as the couple run to each other for protection. "Can we defeat it?" She asks with uncertainty, the need to whisper long gone.
He shakes his head "Can you transform?"
She bites her lip as she begins to shake, frustration shows on her face as nothing happens. "We are doomed."
Laughter emits through the barn as the attacker swaggers inside, his eyes lit up as he watches the two huddling together. He licks his fangs, his cruel eyes scanning them; Bill Compton eyeing up his meal. I scream at them to run, my feet suddenly charging towards the vampire. He is still laughing as I fall right through him unnoticed; they cannot see me and I cannot protect them; somehow I know that they are my real parents.
"NO!" I scream turning to watch his fangs bury into my Father's neck. "NO!"
Then I feel it, I'm being pulled away from this memory and back into darkness.
X-X-X-
It takes a second to realise I'm the one screaming, my hands thrashing above my head only to hit something. I'm lying down...in a box, my hands trail across the surface, feeling for any handle or hole; something I could hold on to. My fingers then glide across something 'fleshy' and I pull my hand back instantly. After those dreams all I can imagine is a corpse lying beside me. I can carry on screaming but what good is that if I'm buried underground. I can't think straight. My head plastered with sweat and as panic sets in I begin to inhale rapidly.
"Finally awake." A voice whispers near my head and my body attempts to hurl itself to the other side only to hit the wall of the box. "Calm down" the male voice says as if everything is normal.
"Where am I?" I breathe out the words, my body paralysed with fear. My mind trying to search for an answer but all I remember is Bill slaughtering my parents and Sophie. I remember Sophie.
"We worried; you've been unconscious for two days now."
"Who are you and where am I?" I raise my voice, struggling to find any sense to being in a box.
"Eric Northman, I believe we've met." The voice replies dripping with sarcasm.
"E-eric? Eric where are we? What's happened?" His fingers tangle in between my own as he holds my hand tightly in the darkness.
"Its day time, you're in my coffin and the least you can do for me is sleep quietly, your screaming is irritating. Sleep now and we will talk tonight."
"I don't want to sleep." I don't want to dream anymore. "Eric I need to kill Bill."
There's a pause before he replies, "Sleep Anna" the warning ringing in his voice, and as I lay beside this vampire in his own coffin I can only stare into darkness and wait for the day to return.
Anne had made my path clear, reminded me of my purpose in Bon Temps. How could I continue living when my parents' murderer is still alive?
So this is the latest chapter, things will start to get darker from here and I hope you enjoy the story? ...it does get better...
