I think the chapters are going to get longer from here on out because I actually have the entire plot figured out and it doesn't break up into neat little chapter pieces anymore. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope it's not too much of a cliff-hanger. After the next chapter or two things are going to start moving very very fast and it's going to be a lot of action in a short amount of time. Oh and there is going to be a very nasty plot twist. I hope there are no Bill lovers reading this story because Bill is going to get his later on.

Charlaine Harris' characters not mine of course.

Sookie felt like her legs were going to give out on her as she walked up the stairs to her porch. Her Gran had left the front porch light on for her but the lights inside were not on. Good, thought Sookie, at least I won't run into Gran tonight… I don't even know what I would say to her. Her mind had trouble catching up to her actions and it was like she was outside her body watching herself go through the motions of pulling her house keys out of her purse and inserting them into her front door. She hadn't even noticed that Eric was still in her driveway, watching her. Once inside her house she quietly closed the door behind her and threw the deadbolt. She kicked her heels off at the door so that they wouldn't make noise on the hardwood floor and padded barefoot back towards her room. Sookie passed the bathroom on her way to her room and for a split second thought about taking a shower but a wave of exhaustion hit her so strongly she didn't know if she'd be able to stay awake for a shower.

She walked directly into her room and sat down on her bed, still clutching her keys in one hand and her purse in the other. Sookie noticed a little card sticking out of her purse and she pulled it out. She could read it by the moonlight that was filtering in from her still opened window. It was Eric Northman's business card with the number for Fangtasia and his personal cell phone number. She wondered when he slipped it in there. She wondered how many people he gave that card to. Sookie pulled his business card out and set it on the end table by her bed, right next to the phone. She was so tired she didn't even bother changing out of Eric's shirt as she climbed under the bedcovers. She could smell him on the shirt and she didn't want to part from that smell quite yet. As she was drifting to sleep she reached her hand up to wear Eric had bitten her, the wound didn't hurt but it was sensitive. She wondered how noticeable the marks would be. She worried about the warnings Eric gave her about her neighbor Bill Compton. Sookie's last conscious thought before she finally drifted to sleep was remembering the way it felt when Eric gently brushed his lips across hers before he bit her.

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Sookie woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee and the sound of bacon sizzling. Her Gran was already busy in the kitchen. She was just glad she didn't have the morning shift at Merlotte's. She didn't have to be in to work until 5 o'clock that night. Sookie had a lot of errands to run that afternoon and it was a beautiful day outside for a little sunbathing. She walked into the bathroom with her swimsuit and clothes and took a hot shower to wash away the stress of the night before. When Sookie got out of the shower she looked in the mirror at her neck. The bites weren't too noticeable; she would just have to wear her hair down. Eventually someone would notice, especially at work tonight when she had to put her hair up. Maybe she could cover it up with a little bit of concealer? She would worry about it later. For right now Sookie put her swimsuit on under her clothes and met her Gran out in the kitchen for breakfast.

"Good morning child! How was your night last night? You and Tara didn't get into too much trouble now did you?" Adele Stackhouse was a blunt woman, but the kind of woman you could generally talk to about anything. She said this to Sookie as she platted her up some eggs, bacon, and toast.

"Oh nothing terribly exciting. I think Tara met someone she liked and I got to meet the owner of Fangtasia. He's a lot different from other vampires we've met. And speaking of the vampires we've met." Sookie poured herself a cup of coffee and tried to figure out how she was going to phrase the next part of what she needed to say to her grandmother. "The owner of Fangtasia, Eric's his name, happens to be Bill's boss in a way, and um… told me some unflattering things about Mr. Compton and said that it might be best if we stay away from him. He told me not to let his kind nature fool us and all of that." Sookie barely breathed when she spat this entire thing out. She didn't want to tell her Gran the truth, but a measure of the truth. Hell, Sookie didn't even know the real truth.

"So another vampire is telling you not to trust a vampire?" Her grandmother looked at her questioningly.

"That seems to be the measure of it. But Eric never claimed to be the good guy either. I would feel better if we just uninvite all the vampires from the house… wouldn't you?" Sookie said, putting on her 1000 watt grin she usually reserves for her tables when she's feeling particularly nervous.

"Alright, that we can do." Adele said and that was that. All the vampires that had ever been in their home were now no longer allowed in. Sookie and her Gran continued their breakfast in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, her Gran just loved to read while she ate and she had just started on a brand new romance novel. When Sookie finished her food she excused herself and left to start her errands. She had a list of groceries that needed to be bought.

Sookie drove down to Bon Temps' only grocery store. In a place like Bon Temps, you were bound to run into half the town when you did your grocery shopping, every face being familiar to you even if you weren't on friendly speaking terms with them. On this particular grocery trip Sookie got an unexpected surprise. She ran into someone she had never met before. Literally, ran into.

She had been turning the corner with her shopping basket and wasn't looking in front of herself when she slammed into a warm wall of muscle. It knocked the wind out of her lungs and she started looking up and up and up to meet the eyes of the person she ran into. The eyes that were staring back at her were a brilliant purple color and on this man did not look the least bit feminine. The guy those eyes belonged to had to be well over six and a half feet and he looked like he was either a body builder or in the military. His head was shaved bald too and the lights of the grocery store glinted off of his scalp. He had a kind face and he cracked a sexy grin when he looked down at Sookie.

"Well little lady, fancy running into a gorgeous thing such as yourself." The man's voice was like a warm knife sliding through butter. Sookie shivered. He shifted his grocery basket to his left hand and held out his right, "Hi, the name's John Quinn, what's yours?"

Sookie reached out her hand to meet his and simultaneously let down her mental shields. When their hands connected she realized there was no way this man was human. "I'm Sookie Stackhouse, pleasure to meet you." She said shakily. He couldn't be a vampire; obviously… it was day time. What other fairy tales come to life were there lurking in the real world? What else was lurking in Bon Temps? What was standing right in front of her? Sookie realized she was still holding hands with John Quinn, started blushing, and let go of his hand. She noticed his body temperature ran hotter than most people she knew; kind of like Sam Merlotte, whom she worked for. She still had a lot of questions for Sam but at the moment that was neither here nor there.

"So John, what brings you to Bon Temps? I hate to be nosey but you definitely aren't from around here." Sookie said and was answered with a very deep chuckle.

"Please, call me Quinn. I guess I stand out don't I? I'm in town on business and I'm staying with some people I know out in Hotshot. They're having a BBQ tomorrow night and they sent me here to pick up some odds and ends. Great hospitality right? I don't blame them. I was getting a little bored." Quinn was candid with her and just listening to the deep purr of his voice did funny things to Sookie's insides. She mentally chastised herself. She was just with Eric last night and now she was getting interested in another man today. What in the world was wrong with her? "Hey I know this is really fast of me, but if you'd like to come down to Hotshot tomorrow night, if you're not doing anything, you're free to come out to the BBQ. Do you know Calvin Norris? It's at his place." Quinn asked her and then waited for her answer.

"Yeah I know Calvin. And I work the lunch shift tomorrow so I think I would be able to come out that night. Would it be ok if I brought my brother along? He knows Calvin pretty ok and they would probably like to catch up." Sookie wanted to invite Jason so that she would feel more comfortable going along with meeting Quinn out in the middle of nowhere. People in Bon Temps gave Hotshot a bad rap because the people were a little strange. Sookie knew that the people were a little strange for different reasons but she couldn't quite put her finger on those reasons just yet. It's like you knew the answer to the question and it was right on the tip of your tongue but you couldn't quite spit it out.

She was waiting for Quinn to balk at the invitation since she was asking to bring her brother. But instead Quinn beamed wider. "No, bring him! The more the merry! Let me give you my number." Quinn pulled out a pen and ripped off a piece of cardboard from one of the things he was purchasing and handed Sookie his number. "I look forward to hearing from you. It was good running into you."

Sookie finished the rest of her grocery shopping in deep thought. She drove home and put the groceries away and pulled out her lawn chair to lay in her yard. She had a lot on her mind. Guys had always thought she was pretty but when they found out that she was a little unstable (her gift of reading minds, sort of) they ran as far away from her as possible. In the last 24 hours she got not one, but two guys… and both were less than human. Did she have some kind of supernatural radar or homing device on her? Did fate have a giant sign over her head that said "Humans won't go for her so for everyone else she is now open for business!"? Sookie knew she shouldn't be getting down on herself she should be excited that two incredibly gorgeous men had approached her recently. Eric was intriguing but he scared the hell out of her. And Quinn… well she knew nothing about Quinn but he looked lethal. She was still worried about the warning Eric had given her about Bill. Why would anyone want to keep watch on her? Maybe having Eric around wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe having Quinn around wouldn't be a bad thing.

After lying in the sun for a while, Sookie put her clothes back on and completed her tasks for the day, scrubbing the countertops in the kitchen and then getting ready for work. Thankfully when she showed up for Merlotte's it wasn't too busy and the sun was still shining brightly. It was nights like these that she wished they had patio seating. But then she would remember how terrible the mosquitoes were on this side of Bon Temps and she was instantly glad they didn't have patio seating. She would look like a pizza if she waited on tables outside with the weather as balmy as it had been. When Sookie set her stuff in Sam's office he gave her a funny look. It was a look as if he smelled something rotten and not at all to his liking. He opened his mouth to say something to her and then thought better of it and closed his mouth and looked away. Sookie looked at his face in profile and wondered what that was all about as she tied her apron on and went out into the bar to begin her shift.

Even though it wasn't busy when she first showed up, business picked up incredibly fast at Merlotte's. Jason showed up with his buddies Hoyt and Catfish and they of course sat in her section like always. They seemed extra rowdy tonight so they were going to be a handful. Sookie figured she'd ask Jason to come out to Hotshot with her for the BBQ before he got too deep into his Buds. "Hey Jason, you have any plans tomorrow night?"

"Sis, this isn't West Virginia… are you asking me on a date?" This got a hoot from Hoyt and a snort from Catfish. But at the death glare from Sookie Jason apologized and said "I'm sorry sis, naw I don't have any plans for tomorrow night, what's up? Do you and Gran want me over for supper?"

"Actually no. See I met this guy, his name is Quinn and he's staying out with Calvin Norris in Hotshot and they are having a BBQ and they invited me. They said I could bring a friend and I figured you'd like to come along too since you haven't seen Calvin in a while." Sookie put emphasis on the Calvin part so Jason wouldn't notice that the whole point of the trip was for Sookie to see Quinn.

"Yeah I haven't seen Calvin in a while. Or Crystal. Man that girl is a firecracker. Sure, I'd love to go to a BBQ. Just give me a call tomorrow when you want to head out there. We'll take my truck." Sookie smiled at her brother and finished taking the drink orders and headed towards the bar where Sam was giving her a very intense look.

"How do you know Quinn?" Sam said through clenched teeth.

"Woah. Easy tiger. Why are you mad? Is there something I should know about Quinn?" Sookie said sounding alarmed.

"Funny you should call me that little nickname but yeah there's a lot you should know about Quinn but I don't think it's my place to say. All I'm going to say is be careful Sook." With that Sam placed her drinks in front of her and walked away.

At his retreating back Sookie yelled "What's with everyone warning me about things lately!!!?!?!?!"

The rest of the night was relatively uneventful in Sookie's eyes. She was busy taking care of all of her tables and the sun was beyond set. Sam caught her eye from the bar and motioned for her to come over to him. When she got to the bar she was waiting to be warned yet again for some ominous thing or another. But instead he said "You have a phone call. Go take a break and grab it in my office." This stunned Sookie. She never got phone calls at work. Arlene was the one that always got the phone calls, then again she did have two troublesome kids at home who always felt the need to call every 10 minutes to tell their mom when something happened or when so-and-so stole so-and-so's toy.

Sookie picked up the phone and said "Hello?"

"Hello my pet. Sorry to bother you at work." It was the voice that laced her dreams last night. Eric.

She cleared her throat a little hoping her voice wouldn't come out in a squeak. "What can I do for you Eric?"

"What a loaded question. I can think of many answers." He was silent for a moment. Sookie was so full of anticipation she thought she was going to burst. "I actually had a question for you."

"Oh and what question would that be?"

"Did you meet your bodyguard today?"

Sookie looked at the phone puzzled. "Did I meet my what?"

"Quinn. Did you meet Quinn today?"

Sookie's heart sank. "Is that why he invited me out for a BBQ? So he could watch me?"

"He did what?" Eric asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I ran into him at the grocery store and he invited me to where he's staying for a BBQ, he did that all just so he could watch me. Did you hire him? What's going on?" Sookie asked a little peeved.

"I didn't hire him to take you on a date. I hired him to watch you in the daytime when I cannot. He's the best at what he does. He was supposed to introduce himself to you and tell you if you needed anything to call him. I'm going to have him by his tail." Eric now sounded more than slightly annoyed.

"Don't worry about it Eric. I'm taking my brother to the BBQ anyways. Apparently Quinn is staying with one of my brother's friends. So it's not like a date. I'll be watched over. And then I can have a talk with Quinn about boundaries. If he's supposed to watch me then he needs to watch me. Not flirt with me right?"

"Right. I'll be in touch." And with that Eric hung up.