A/N: New chapter, yay! :)


Review Replies –

Mixmatched9 – I know! Gran was pretty awesome, I was sad that she died. :( But still, she was great anyway :) Thanks! :D kykyxstandler – Oh that Johnny :D Thanks for the review :D Sluggysmom – Yeah :( haha, but still I loved Gran! :D


Chapter Nine – Look Through The Window


"A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist."
- Stewart Alsop


Everyone deals with death differently. Sookie could barely function and would rather clean than deal with things directly. My brother however, used anger to get past his problems. Anyone and everyone was a victim. He was sad and moody all in one. The one person I didn't expect to react violently was Jason. Sweet Jason who had never raised a hand to his sister before.

I didn't realize that he had hit her actually. He just came storming in.

"Oh Jace," I said softly. He looked me up and down, and I noticed he was acting strangely. His eyes were dilated like he wasn't fully in there. He glared at everyone, including me, and ran upstairs. He came back down moments later, looking even worse than he had beforehand. When he left, with Andy following him quickly, I raced upstairs to find Sookie crying.

"He hit her!" Tara raged.

"Hit her?" I asked, stumped.

"Yeah! He walked right in here like he owned the place and slapped her!"

Jason had slapped Sookie? Wow. I kept imaging how I'd feel if Johnny ever slapped me. I couldn't even imagine it. Speaking of Johnny…

I heard him come in before I saw him. I heard Hoyt's mother babbling and telling him how sorry she was for his loss. She had done the same to me, and I didn't need Sookie's mind-reading skills to know she just wanted some juicy gossip.

Sookie came downstairs, and went into the kitchen. I decided to deal with Johnny now rather than later. It's only when Johnny is mad at someone that you realize he's actually huge and strong. Normally he's sweet, but when he's mad he towers over me like Eric does. His eyes are darker, more hateful and he seems paler than his normally sun-kissed skin.

He sighed when he saw me, as if I were the source of the problem.

"Emilie," he muttered angrily. Instead of arguing, I just wrapped my arms around him. He was surprised at first, but slowly sunk into the hug. "She's gone."

"I know," I replied, taking in his scent of sweat and cologne. He smelled pretty good actually.

It was then that Sookie had her rant at Hoyt's mom. Johnny tugged on my arm, pushing me forward to go help her. I knew Sookie, and I knew she would have to grieve by herself if she was to ever deal with this. If we could ever deal with this.


He was old now, wrinkled and grey, alone and depressingly sad to look at. Bartlett was now even more horrible and hideous than he had ever been before. He saw me glaring at him, and at first ignored me. Until he saw the ever-annoyed Johnny beside me. Then he turned, staying well away from us.

Yes, Johnny was still bad-tempered. He was calming down though, and didn't snap at people. I had helped him and Kane get dressed for the funeral. Kane has a terrible habit of undoing his smart tie when he gets all fidgety and agitated.

Bartlett must've been invited by Jason, because Lord knows Sookie would never, ever call him. That bastard didn't deserve to even be treated as a human or vampire, if I'm honest.

Sookie clutched to my hand desperately when she saw him.

"Don't worry Sook. You have me, Kane and Johnny. He's not getting anywhere near you," I promised. I could never admit to Sookie that I was as depressed about Gran's death as she was. I hadn't stopped crying when I was alone, but I could never let her know that. It would ruin her if she knew it. Instead, I put on a brave smile and led her to her seat.

Kane stopped his fidgeting and actually became the best friend Johnny needed right now. He ignored how Johnny snapped at him angrily, taking all the comments in his stride. He knew how to deal with Johnny when he was angry. In fact, it's kind of how they became friends. When Kane was younger, he sold some dodgy product to an older boy in his school. When the guy found out it wasn't functional and he had basically spend money on a worthless item, he decided to teach Kane a lesson. At the time, Kane wasn't very tall or strong like he is now. He was smaller and weaker.

But Johnny was taller and stronger. He helped Kane by stopping the guy from beating him and forcing Kane to give him back his money. Ever since then, they'd been best friends. And Johnny was always there to help Kane out whenever he was in trouble for selling something stupid to an equally stupid person. Though I admit, I bought some stuff from him before, falling for his smart phrases. I must be a stupid person then.

Now it was Kane's turn to look after Johnny as he sat with his head in his hands, doing his best not to break down. I sat between Johnny and Sookie. The moment Jason was alone, I confronted him.

"Why did you invite Bartlett?"

"Oh not you too Emilie," he muttered, rubbing his left eye with his hand tiredly. "Look, he was Gran's brother."

"And you think Gran would want him here? Hell no Jason, she hated him as much as we all do. Heck, even Johnny hates him."

Though Johnny didn't know about what Bartlett did to Sookie – all that horrible sexual abuse and fear he drilled into her at such a young age – he still didn't like the guy. There was just this vibe about him that put him off, and Johnny never liked him. Kane didn't really like Bartlett either, but he didn't care much because he never had to deal with Bartlett like we did.

Tara's mother Lettie Mae made a surprise speech that ended with Tara dragging her away. I stepped up quickly.

"Thank you so much for coming. I know Gran would appreciate having her friends and family here."

It was the best I could do, since Sookie was so…quiet. She was grateful when I managed to convince Johnny to stay for a few weeks. He was pissed off about it, but after a few minutes of begging he gave up and gave in. When we got home, I went to my room – a room Sookie had sweetly set up for me - and I swear I have never cried so much in my life.


It was a while before I got to see Eric. Though I hadn't expected it. He appeared suddenly in my bedroom as I sat on the bed, reading a book.

"Feel like a night out in Fangtasia?"

"Not really," I shrugged. His eyebrows drew together, in something of frustration. Then I realized why he must want me to go. He thought this 'killer' would come back. It didn't matter if it was for me or for Sookie, he was just worried something would happen. "Oh fine, I'll go."

After we drove, listening to some kind of music which I'm guessing was Swedish with a woman wailing in the background again, I noticed Fangtasia was buzzing tonight. We passed all the human people in a group like sheep and I felt that familiar feeling of guilt that they might get hurt. Who knows what could happen to them?

I actually had a lot of fun. He made me forget all the problems, all the pain of losing Gran and having to help Sookie all the time. I loved her to bits though, she was like an older sister. I would do anything for her.

Then I saw a human I never wanted to see in this bar; Jason Stackhouse.

I almost growled as I headed in his direction, but Eric's hand curled around my wrist, pulling me back to him.

"What's wrong?" he purred, grinning and searching the crowd. I looked back, seeing Jason was gone. Maybe I was going crazy. Jace hated vamps, he'd never come here, would he? I wasn't sure. I felt so uncertain that I let it go.

"N-Nothing."

"Good. Then let's dance."

No one was up when I got home. Not even Johnny, who usually stayed up pretty late. I put my keys on the counter and sighed, sitting at the table and noticing Gran's pie had been eaten. Sookie, probably.

Messing up my hair with my hands, I sighed again and put my head in my hands, rubbing my eyes and not caring if I messed up my mascara. I was just tired.

I decided to go to bed then, standing and stretching.

That was when I saw her, through the window, in the dark. At least I think it was a woman, because it had only been a quick glance. She was outside, staring in. She was so pale, with dark red hair, almost maroon red. Her eyes had been wide open, with a trail of blood running down her chin. I gasped, almost knocking over the bowl of pie. I clutched my heart actually, falling backwards. I had squealed too, so afraid of this random stranger staring in my window.

But when I looked back again, she was gone. First I had seen Jason in Fangtasia, and now this woman.

Was I going crazy from missing Gran or something?