A/N: Final chapter, dears. Hope you enjoy it, and I hope some of you have sought out the original work. I've watched it over and over these past few days, and I still can't get enough. I hope I did it justice.

Enjoy

~Yve

***

"Well, it's good to have you back, Sook." Sam smiled as she picked up her order from him at the bar. "Nobody cover's your section as quick and well as you. Not even Amelia," he whispered, glad his girlfriend wasn't there tonight to hear it.

"Sam, you don't have to go out of your way to try and make me feel welcome. I'm glad to be back. It gives me something to do." She took her drinks and headed over her table, watching the barely legal men in the booth ogle her as she passed their beers around. She turned and headed to the front with a menu as she heard the door open. She was relieved to see Alex standing there, looking around the bar awkwardly.

"Alex," she rushed forward. "Did you find out anything else?"

"Miss. Can I get another Diet Coke?"

"Oh. Sorry, Alex."

"No. You're working. I'll wait." He squeezed her arm and looked around for a spot to sit.

"Over there's my section. I'll be right with you." She smiled and hustled off to see to her other tables once more before speaking with Alex.

"I was able to go through Maxwell's room before the hotel realized he'd vacated," he announced as she came over to the booth in the back corner with a bottle of blood for him. "Does this look familiar?" He passed a wrinkled piece of paper to her across the table.

"This is the list of Bill's things in the evidence bag the police gave me."

"Take a closer look at that list. Were all of those itms there when we looked last night?"

It took her a moment to recall the items laid out across her bed. "The PDA! It wasn't there last night!"

"Maxwell must have broken in and taken it while we were downstairs with the other guests. Did you have a look at it when the police turned it over?" She nodded. "Do you remember anything that might matter?"

"Order up," Terry called from the kitchen.

"Sorry." Sookie apologized. "Be right back."

He watched her pick up the platter from the kitchen pass through and walk across the dinning area to an old fat woman, who certainly wasn't in need of the chicken fried stake with extra mashed potatoes and gravy. She nearly dropped the plate in the woman's lap as she turned and shouted across the room.

"Freret Market, 8 PM!" She rushed over, ignoring the patrons and employees now staring at her. "It's 7 now. Can we make it." She had come to the same conclusion as Alex – if they were going to find the money they had to retrace Bill's steps, starting with the market.

"Just. But we must hurry." He watched her untie her apron and shove it into the hands of a redheaded waitress with a sour look on her face.

"I'm so sorry, Sam! I'll explain later!"

Alex pulled the car into a parking spot about a block from the market and they walked the rest of the way. The market was crowded still, with four hours left to closing.

"Now what?" Sookie asked.

"Now we look for anything strange, out of the ordinary. Something that might attract Bill's attention. You were married to him – what do you see?"

Sookie scanned the crow. The booths were full of handmade items, market fresh produce, toys, jewelry, antiques. Nothing techie. Nothing she thought might interest Bill. "I don't know." She shook her head in defeat. She was tired of trying to solve this one. She was tired of running. Alex squeezed her hand.

"Well, there's someone who might have an idea." He pointed across the street to where Maxwell Lee was standing, looking around the market in the same hope as them. "You stay right here. I'm going to talk to him."

"Just talk?"

"Sookie, please." He smiled and headed across the street.

Alex began crossing the street as he noticed Maxwell staring at something with rapt attention. Before he was halfway there, Maxwell leapt through the crowd and hurried toward the exit of the market. He rushed past Alex bumping his shoulder in the process. "Sorry friend. I'm in a rush!" He left Alex in the middle of the crowd, eager to follow him, but not wanting to draw attention from the law enforcement among the crowd.

Instead his eyes followed the path to what Maxwell had been studying. Across the street diagonally sat a group of nearly two-dozen booths. Each advertised their many rare and valuable collectible stamps.

"The letter," he growled. He assessed his options in a split second. Navigating the crowd on foot and then the streets in the corvette was ridiculous to even consider. His best option was to find a secluded ally and take to the sky. It was his only chance to beat Maxwell to the hotel, and take possession of the stamps.

Sookie milled around on the street corner impatiently. She had lost sight of Alex and Maxwell behind a crowd of tourists. She hopped they weren't having the final knockdown drag out in an ally somewhere.

"Sookie!" She turned around at the sound of her name. It was Amelia, heading toward her, shopping bags in hand. "What are you doing here? Sam's frantic. He called and said you just ran out with some tall blond guy."

"I'll have to apologize later. Alex and I are here trying to track down that money. Bill had an appointment here on Sunday. We thought if we could figure out where or with who we might be able to track down the money. Why are you here? Shopping?"

Alex landed on Sookie's balcony, not wanting to waste time with the elevator. When he opened the door, Maxwell was sitting on the edge of the bed. Holding the envelope in his hand.

"Maxwell, give me the letter."

"Oh, the letter isn't worth a thing and you know it."

"The envelope, the stamps. Hand them over."

"Madden, you're a fucking idiot. A sex crazed moron. They were both too devious for us and you fell for it!"

"What are you talking about?" He was growing impatient.

"First Compton, now his crazy wife. She batted those big blue eyes at you and you actually fell for it. You want the envelope. Here. Have at it. It's all yours and you certainly earned it." He handed the envelope to Alex.

His sight became clouded with anger as he looked down at the paper where the postage should be. The corner had been neatly clipped out, the stamps removed.

"Look at you're face! You of all people got conned by your mark! And you killed all three of them for nothing. Good vampire's all of them! Well, fuck you, Madden. You can't protect her any more."

Alex didn't stick around to listen to any more threats. He left out the balcony door and flew back to the market in search of Sookie.

"Yeah, the shopping here is nice and this is where Jason likes to come and look at stamps." Amelia and Sookie were crossing the street in the direction that Alex had disappeared.

"Stamps! Jesus, Shepherd of Judea! Where is he, Amelia? Where's Jason?"

"What's wrong Sookie? Why…?"

"I gave Jason some stamps. Does he just collect them or would he trade them for others?" Just then Jason came running up to the women.

"Aunt Sookie! Look at all the stamps I got for just those three you gave me!"

"Jason, no!" He looked at her, confused that she wasn't excited for his fortune. "Where did you trade those? Take me to the booth."

"Do I have to give them back?" Jason looked upset.

"No, honey. We'll pay for them, ok? I just need those three little stamps back."

Jason took off across the block and the two women followed close behind. He stopped in front of a booth that was being locked up by the owner. The elderly man turned to face the three of them. "I thought you'd be back. Those three were far too valuable to be traded here. And for what I gave the young man. I'm sorry. I was very excited to see them. Please wait one moment."

Amelia looked skeptically at Sookie as she pulled Jason to stand closer to her. Sookie shrugged, not willing to get into an explanation just now.

The man returned from inside his booth, bringing the three stamps with him, now neatly protected in a plastic sleeve. "These are very rare stamps you have given me the pleasure of studying. Though they do not belong to me, I was pleased to look after them for a few moments. This is the British Guiana 1 cent Magenta, valued at $935,000, the Inverted Jenny, valued at $525,000, and the most expensive of the three, the Inverted Head Four Annas, valued at $1,340,000. Please take them with my apologies."

"Please let me pay you for the stamps you gave my nephew." Sookie took her wallet out of her purse and waited for the total.

"It was an international starter package. It's thirty dollars." She paid the man and said goodbye to Amelia, promising to call her and explain everything in the morning. She ran out to the street and caught a cab, not wanting to wait for Alex at the car. He could meet her at the hotel.

Sookie took her cell phone out of her back pocket as she approached her hotel room door. It was standing open and she had learned this week to proceed with caution. "Alex?" There was no answer. It sounded as if there was no one in the room. She gently pushed the door open and ventured inside. The first thing she focused on was the telltale sign of a dead vampire. She was becoming desensitized to death these days, but it still turned her stomach.

She took a few steps closer. It suddenly hit her that the remains she was looking at could belong to Alex, and she was determined to prove herself wrong. She mustered her courage and reached down to pick up the suit jacket in the middle of the pile of vampire goo. When she did, about a dozen silver bullets shook out of the fabric. She discarded the jacket, satisfied that it must be Maxwell who had met his end in her bedroom – since the jacket was too wide to have belonged to Alex – and knelt to inspect the bullets.

She noticed something as she collected the little fragments of silver. The nap of the carpet beside the worst part of the mess had been disturbed. Something had been written in the rug like a drawing in the sand. M-A-D-D-E-N. Sookie gasped and dropped the bullets to the floor. She retrieved her cell phone and took out that damned card for Seth Byron.

"Mr. Byron, It's Sookie."

"You sound positively frantic. What is going on?"

"Frantic isn't the word I would use. Try terrified. Maxwell Lee has just been killed… in my hotel room. By Alex."

"I'm sorry, who's Alex?"

"Oh, you don't know. That's the man who was claiming to be Rick Madden. His real name is Alex Eriksson, only Maxwell didn't know it and before he died he wrote out the name Madden." Sookie was near tears.

"Calm down Mrs. Compton. Do you know where this 'Alex' is now?"

"Oh, he's probably looking for me now. I have the stamps… the money, I mean. Bill took all that money and he bought some very rare stamps. They were the postage on the letter he wrote me."

"Mrs. Compton, you aren't safe as long as you have that money. It's best you get it to us at the VFA immediately. It would be quicker if we met halfway. I can leave now. Do you know where Shreveport North Memorial Park is?"

"Yes. That's just a few blocks from here."

"I'll see you soon, Mrs. Compton, and this will all be over." Mr. Byron hung up the phone, and Sookie rushed downstairs and headed to the cemetery.

Alex found no trace of her back at the market. Depending on where she had gone, her trail could be cold by now. But as long as she had those stamps, he hadn't failed. The second she sold them, however, he'd be back at square one, having to track them down once again.

He retrieved the corvette and made his way across town to the hotel, hoping to find some clue as to where she'd gone. About four blocks from the building, he began to get an uneasy feeling. It was as if Sookie were calling out to him, but he knew it was his blood inside of her. She was close. He parked the car on the street and moved quietly through the dark to where he felt her.

Sookie had just entered the cemetery – creepy place – and was standing behind the large columns up front, waiting for Mr. Byron. She peered around them and spotted a familiar figure lurking across the street. His back was turned but she was sure it was Alex. She quickly ducked back behind the column again. She reached deep into her purse beginning to look for the card to Call Mr. Byron and warn him. It wasn't there. Her mind flashed back to her hotel room, where the card lay in the pile of vampire goo next to the pieces of silver.

"Shit," she muttered under her breath. She began making her way deeper into the cemetery. She couldn't risk Alex hearing her making this call. She dialed information. "Shreveport AVL, please." She waited, pacing between the headstones, for an answer at the AVL. "Yes, please connect me to Mr. Byron's office."

"I'm sorry Miss, but Mr. Byron isn't in today."

"He's on his way to Shreveport North Memorial Park. I'm waiting to meet him and someone is trying to kill me. Please page him or something!"

"Miss, I can't hear you. Can you repeat that?"

"Please send the police over to Shreveport North Memorial Park right away! Someone is trying to kill me!"

"Ma'am, you'll have to speak up… did you say someone is trying to kill…" Sookie hung up the phone. She didn't have time to argue with a receptionist, and she was beginning to feel as though someone was following her. She crouched down behind a large family marker and tried to breath as quietly as possible.

"Sookie, I know you're there. What have you done with the stamps?" Alex was about twenty feet away now. "Sookie. It's no use hiding from me and you know it. I can feel you. Just come out and talk to me. Please."

"Why? So you can kill me too?"

"What are you talking about?" If he could keep her talking he could pinpoint her location among the graves.

"I know you killed Maxwell. He wrote 'Madden' before he died."

"I'm not Madden and you know it. Don't be ridiculous." He was closing the distance now.

"I'm not being ridiculous. Maxwell didn't know you weren't him."

"Stop this now, Sookie! I didn't kill anyone!" less than ten feet, now.

"Then who did? You're the only one left!" Sookie heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Mr. Byron approaching. She stood up and began backing towards him, letting Alex see her now. But everything would be fine with Mr. Byron there. The police should arrive soon, too. "Mr. Byron! That's Alex Eriksson. He's the one who's been killing them all!"

"Sookie, don't! That's Victor Madden!" Alex began moving faster toward the two figures in front of him, until he noticed a stake in the other vampire's hand. Sookie stood looking between the two of them, stunned.

"We all know Victor Madden is dead, Mrs. Compton."

"Victor." Alex growled.

"No. I've seen him at the AVL." Sookie stood there shaking her head.

"Don't be an idiot, Sookie. That's Victor! Maxwell recognized him and that's why he wrote Madden."

"That's right, I'm a dead man." He laughed at his horrible pun. "Are you going to let him talk to you like that, Mrs. Compton? Come over this way and hand over those stamps."

"If you give him those stamps, he'll kill you."

"Why should I believe you this time?" She shouted.

"There's no reason in the world why you should." Alex stood motionless. The ball was in her court. All he could do was wait for her to make a move and react accordingly. He just hoped she would make the right one.

She stood there, looking back and forth between the vampire who stood patiently across the cemetery and the one clutching the stake menacingly behind her. She turned back to Alex and nodded her head slightly just once, in acceptance of his story, and began to take a step toward him. He was poised to place himself between Sookie and the other vampire, and then Victor spoke.

"I'll kill you, Mrs. Compton. A stake to the heart will prove fatal even to a human."

"If you killed her, you would still have to retrieve those stamps, and I'm not likely to miss at this range." Alex pulled out Clancy's gun, newly loaded with silver ammunition.

"Maybe not, but it takes a lot of bullets to kill me. They left me there with five of them in my legs and my stomach. They knew I was still alive but they left me. It took me five hours to make it to relative shelter and I was still burned. I spent ten months recovering in seclusion. But they paid for it. All of them paid for it. And that money belongs to me. I will have it!"

"Alex!" Sookie took off at a run toward him, but Victor was true to his word. He launched the stake like a throwing knife, catching Sookie in the ribs, the force of the blow bringing her down instantly.

Alex and Victor were drawn powerfully together to the spot where she lay. As Victor reached out to snatch his prize from her fingers, Alex aimed his weapon and fired. The bullet found its way home to Victor's heart, and another took off his head. He began to disintegrate immediately. Victor Madden was finally dead.

He heard Sookie moaning beside him, and relief washed over him at the realization that she remained alive. "I guess they're yours now," she mumbled deliriously.

Alex pulled her into his arms, careful not to disturb the wood protruding from her side, and carried her back to the car.

As Sookie awoke the next evening she felt sore and weak, uncertain of her surroundings. She seemed to be in an office somewhere. She was bundled up in blankets on a comfortable sofa. She looked across the room to where Alex was sitting behind a desk, sifting through papers and talking on the telephone.

"Yes. She's awake now, Pam. Goodbye." He hung up the phone and moved to sit on the edge of the couch next to Sookie.

"Where are we?" She asked groggily.

"We're in my office."

"I didn't think con men had offices."

"Well, see, 'con man' is only part of the job description. I'm Area 5 Sheriff – over Shreveport and the surrounding parishes." He grinned.

"I don't suppose you're name is really Alex, is it?" Sookie scooted back to sit against the arm of the couch. "Hey. What happened to those stamps? And that stake?" She gripped her side as a wave of dull pain flashed there.

"The stake was removed. I have a friend that is familiar with such unusual injuries. And you had to consume a good deal of my blood in order to heal as well as you have. A few more doses would be optimal, of course. But that is up to you." A look of anger crossed Sookie's face before fading into a small smile.

"I guess you saved my life, huh?"

"As for the stamps. They have been acquired by the King. He sent me after the money when he heard Victor was still alive. He has enough in his royal treasury that the money became less of an issue when he learned of the stamps. He's somewhat of a collector. He values rare things."

"I don't know how I feel about the money not going back to the AVL, but as long as everybody's off my back, there's not much else I can do." He simply shook his head, happy that she wasn't going to put up a fight. "So what's your name today?"

"Eric Northman."

"And why should I believe that?"

"I'll put it on a marriage license later in the week. How about that?"

"Oh, don't dismiss me so quickly. Why am I supposed to believe you're the Sheriff either? … Did you say 'marriage license'?"

His fangs came down and he graced her with his full, beautiful vampire grin. She reached her hands up and around his neck, pulling him toward her, turning her head up for a kiss.