Disclaimer: The characters belong to Charlaine Harris, i'm just playing around.
AN: italics is thoughts, and i did try to not have so many this time. I love your comments, that helps me improve, to thanks to everybody that has helped!
Also, anyone up for betaing?
Thanks for reviewing: le jazz hot, SumFatChic, Billsbedroom, justareader7883, DD and DICATAKADD
Ch.9
Be curious, not fearsome.
"Uh, I think we'd best get in through the back." I say. "Something is off about that conversation" I say. Delia nods.
We go through the garden, skip over the fence and reach the back door in a few minutes. Delia is ahead of me, off cours,e but I listen in carefully as we creep about. No Julien nor Jonas, Crystal is here alone.
They should be here already… Wait, that was not my mom's thoughts. And Crystal I can only barely perceive. Then the thought continues. Get them safe while Sookie deals with the panther. She does not know I am here.
I sigh in relief as I notice who it is. He hears me.
"Delia, Judy" he peeks his head out the back door and sees us. He comes out to meet us.
"What's happening with Mamma?" I ask.
"She's talking to her sister in law." He says. More like lying, but oh well.
"What do we do?" I ask him. He considers for a moment.
"I think we should all go in through the front door." He says.
"You too?" I ask.
"Having a vampire will only anger her" Delia says.
"Yes, well, lucky for me it will also give us an advantage. Pam will be here soon" he says.
"She's leaving…" I say. They both look at me. "Or at least she's starting to really consider it." I say.
"Let her see just me, maybe that will help. What they want is to know about Dad, because if he does not show soon, they will claim me." Delia proposes.
"No, you cannot arrive alone. She will get suspicious and your mother will be worried." He talks for us all.
"So, we have to go in both."
"Yes" I was not asking.
"Let's do it then" Delia snarls.
"Front or back?" I ask.
"Front" Delia says.
"What will you do?" I ask Bill.
"I'll be nearby." He says.
"BITCH!!" I can hear the scream all too well. Bill is gone.
"Bill!" I call to him harshly. He stops.
"You're not here, remember?" I tell him. He stops and walks back.
"You girls go. I'll be here."
Delia takes a long stride that I match in four of my steps,
I walk hurriedly alongside her as we go to the front again. She was thinking that this better be quick. I just hoped that Crystal was not feeling especially enfuriated or vindictive. I still remember the scratches that Mamma kept for a good part of the year last time they 'talked'. However, I had a feeling that the fact that she had not come alone this time might maybe work to her advantage. I know that Jonas likes Mamma, but whenever he is with someone else from the pack he is always trying to prove himself.
"She's calm right now" I say to Delia, emphasizing the right now part.
"Good" she says as the places the key in the lock and opens up.
Crystal is sitting on the couch with a pillow under her crossed arms, Mamma is sitting on the other couch, a Dry Coke in her hand. Crystal had already finished her Beer. I wondered how long they had been frozen like that. Only two thoughts kept repeating themselves in each others
We only found one body… Orson's… Only one body…
What if Alcide's men lied to Bill? Maybe he is alive…. They could have lied and Bill would have believed… Alive….
One body… and I recognize the smell no matter what….
They lied and he's alive…
They were both deep in desperation. Neither noticed us enter and the only thing that made Delia pause was my cautioning hand to my side.
"Mamma?" I say in my mind probing gently. She does not move.
What if Bill was misinformed, Judy? What if he really is alive? I shake my head. We had both seen it in his head, well, I had.
You forget I hear him clearly, I reply. He was scared when he heard about it. No matter what Crystal believes, we know better. Dad had talked to Bill, warned him that he had a feeling something was off. They only found one body because the Shreveport wolves got there before. They did call them, and tell them that they found Alcide too, but they only saw one body because the second one had already been moved, as had the third firstly by Bill. Don't you see?
But, why would…
Crystal does not want to believe that Alcide is dead because that would mean that the pack is organized when it should not be, you know the whole choosing a new leader is always tough.
I stop out silent conversation and go over to Crystal hesitantly, she just looks at me, but I felt her feelings drill into me. Fear and disbelief.
Mamma shares with me what she told her. She told her that Alcide was dead too, Crystal was unprepared and was still grasping the idea.
I sat next to her, still with caution. She looks at me then turns to look past me to Delia still standing.
"Hey, Aunt Crystal" she says casually. 'Q and A time?" she starts off.
I roll my eyes. Was it not enough to not tell the exact truth.
"Crystal, My husband has not double crossed you. I received a call from the Shreveport wolves two days ago telling me that they found Alcide Herveaux's body, and that they believed Orson Norris to be the other body, but that they could not be sure, which is why they called you. I do not know much, but I can promise you that I have not heard from Sam for longer than a week so I have no idea what has happened with him." She says slowly, a bit troubled, but she gets it all out.
"Sam has not called?" she says puzzled. We all nod.
"No, last I know he had some business in Colombia. You know him, always traveling" she says. I wonder how different their lifestyle was when we were not around.
"I feel so dumb now, I'm gonna call Jonas, now. Maybe he'll like to see the girls" she says. Mamma nods softly. I roll my eyes behind my eye lids and get up to get some dinner. There really is not much to decide with, but we get by.
She gets her phone out as I close the door to the kitchen. It's my day to cook, so I just listen in too their thoughts while they talk dumb small talk to pass the time. I just finished the salad when the doorbell rings. I check the meat casserole, it's a bit bigger than usual, because I know there is Crystal and Jonas to consider, and they eat at least as much as Delia.
I fear what can happen with Jonas here. I was not exactly lying when I said he was a psychopath to Dave and Bastian, though I did lie about his fixation with me.
"So, how is school, girls?" Crystal asks, still making small talk when I settle the casserole in the middle of the table.
"Exhausting, making my resumee good enough for applications next year. Judy is working part time" Delia says.
"Yeah, a four hour shift after classes." I say. "They pay well, and all I do is forward phone calls and emails." I share.
Jonas has not talked since he arrived. He is sitting besides me and I can hear the flow of unsteady sentences and strong emotions emanating from him.
He knows that I sneaked past him at school, and thinks that it means that I am hiding something from him. He had asked the right persons and he knew he was at the right door when classes ended. He has not told this to Crystal and thinks it better than to say his suspicions when they are outnumbered. He is seething with anger and confusion is only a second away from triggering his uncontrolled rage. It is not as easy to talk to him as it is to talk to Crystal.
Then Mamma gets the plates and Delia helps her. I stay in the table with them. I peek at Jonas besides me, for a second I pity that he carries my ancestors names, that we share a family connection. Crystal is looking between us, trying to figure something out.
"So, Judy, any special boy yet?" she asks. I try very hard not to react with my usual laugh.
"No, I'm afraid that I seem to repel them" I say softly. 'How about you, Jonas? Any girlfriends?" I want to say or boyfriends, but know what Crystal thinks of that.
"There's this one girl." Family? I hope not.
"What's her name?" I ask, pretending to be interested.
"Winie" he says, shrugging. "She's nice and pretty" he says. Trust my cousin to be shallow.
"Yes, but we talked…" Crystal starts off, he glowers at her and she does not finish the statement, but she does the thought. About him finding someone of better blood. This was about preserving the species? Oh, come on, he himself is only half a panther.
I do not react, but I realize this information might be useful and pertinent somewhere down the line.
Then I hear my computer buzz to life. Who could be calling? I excuse myself and head to my bag on the couch.
Lyn. I could not pick that up now. Mamma comes out from the kitchen again.
"Who's calling?" she asks. I answer in my head. Lyn, a friend from school. Can I pick up?
"One of my girlfriends from school" I lie naturally.
"Oh, okay" she says and I go upstairs to answer it. She had nodded.
"Hey" I say I place the earpiece to my ear.
"Hey, I sent you an email hours ago." She says.
'"I'm sorry, Lyn, I have been away from my computer since swim practice." I tell her. "I had an unexpected family visit and just got off the hook." I tell her.
"More vampires?" she says. I check to see that neither Crystal, Jonas nor Delia heard it.
"No, actual family. My cousin and his mother" I tell her. She laughs.
"His mother? Not your Aunt?" she asks. I sigh.
"It's a stretch of a relationship, really." I say to her. "She's a bit of a wild card, and we do not see each other often anyways" I say to her.
"Oh" she says.
"Do you have a good relationship with your family?" I steer the conversationally towards her, hoping it is easiser than mine.
"Well, we are pretty close, all my cousins on my father's side live here too. We sort of huddled around Wei when he first came to us." She tells me, I listen. "My mother only has a sister, and she lives in a small town in Seattle too."
"No black sheep?" I joke. She laughs.
"No, none of that" she replies. "No one has ever done anything scandalous enough to deserve that" she says. I really hope that homosexuality is okay in her family, because I'd hate is she was taken from all that because of something that I basically opened up for her..
"What's the weirdest thing you've ever had?" I wondered to her.
"Hmm, well, my dad's youngest brother had a very rebellious time after he graduated college. He was all about drugs and inmortality. He got himself into this demon worshippers group, when he came back he had a lot of tattoos. Every one was a bit scandalized, but then he told them about how now he saw everything in a new light thanks to his experiences. He's a very spiritual man, and, well, my family just lets him be because its what makes him happy." She says. I hate what I am about to ask next.
"So they have no issue with homosexuality?" I can hear her take a deep breath and imagine her blushing on the other side.
"No, nothing at all" she says, she considers for a second "I do believe that one of my cousins is in a homosexual marriage. They adopted four years after getting married." She says.
"That's pretty, simple adoption or was it an in vitro or some of those weird things they do join both of their sperms?"
"No, simple adoption" she says.
"So, did you hear there's going to be a third part to To Lose Control?" and I was off talking to her about the books, our speculations about the movie, other books, a few global issues, everything except prom. I loved that.
But I was cut short.
By a knock on my door, I wondered why Jonas or Crystal bothered to come up and say goodbye to me.
"Give me a sec, Lyn" I ask of her and put her on hold while I to get the door. Jonas is there, alone.
"Can I have a word?" he says, the polite words are lost in his fierce voice.
I nod. I put her out of hold.
"Call you tomorrow?" I say to her, "I'll email you later tonight, though" I tell her. She agrees and hangs up.
"Don't forget" she says to me. I would die before I forget anything regarding her.
I mentalize myself for anything before turning to face Jonas.
"Hey" I say as I sit on my chair again and prop my feet up. "You need anything?" I ask him.
"I hate it when you lie to me you know" he says. Not exactly the best way to start this conversation.
"What exactly did I lie about?" I ask him.
"You know, it would just be easier if you told them" he says. What the hell is he talking about?
"I heard your anticipation about that phone call, beats me why your sister did not. I guess you just know how to lie to her." He says. This is about Lyn.
"I have no idea what you mean." I insist
"That was not just a friend calling, was it?" he asks me.
"What's it to you?" I challenge.
"I know what it is like to lie about who you are seeing. I was not able to tell mother about Winie for about a year, I was still supposed to be trying to get Cousin Diana pregnant. But we just met and everything clicked for me." I was puzzled. Where was this coming from? Since when did he tell me anything? Was he starting to have independent thoughts away from the pack?
"Mamma, Delia, Dad and I trust each other with everything." I say to him. As much I was taught to hate my cousin and his mother, right now I kinda liked him.
"Right" he snorts. I shush him "Okay, here is what I came to tell you." He gets serious all of a sudden and his amiable face stiffens for a few seconds.
"I know something is wrong, but I sense that right know protection through unity is the only way that you three will stand. I'd hate for it to break because you do not want to involve your romantic life." He says to me.
"I have no romantic life to speak of" I lie deliberately.
"Not yet" he supplies. Does he get all this because he is a were or because he understands my situation completely?
"Nor will I, the only thing that matters to me is my family." I make him see this.
"Lyn? That's the name right?" he asks. I huff. "Consider what you want, too" he says cryptically. "And is it a her, then?" he asks in a whisper. I glare.
"I still do not understand how this concerns you." I say icily. He considers his answer for a second.
I don't buy your story at all, but I realize that it won't help to point that out. You three stand united, a strong fort that no one can break, especially with Delia to hold you two. It will tear you apart if romance comes like that, a wave against your contingency wall. And when I fell for Winie, nothing about the pack mattered anymore, not even Mom, and I think that is because they had always pushed me to do everything I did not want to do. Wow, why had I never before bothered to listen to him? He's not shallow, when's he's concentrated on thinking I can get good sentences for him, and did he really think that?
"I'm not being pushed in any direction, Jonas." I inform him. "This girl, yes, girl, is just a crush," I assure him. "And it does not affect my mother and sister just as much as we affect your pack or your relationship with Winie" I say to him, maybe he had not expected me to reply.
He looks at me as if he had seen a ghost. I consider my words again. "Sorry, I had no idea how much of this was not your idea" I say to him. I feel terrible for all the lies I told about him today at school.
He is still gaping like a fish, then I know why. He had been thinking. Fuwk, I had just sunk myself.
"What the hell was that?" he asks. I shake my head, trying to come up with anything.
"You asked a question and I answered it" I say. He rubs his head. I consider planting an idea, but forget it. "Your mother must have dropped you on your head a few times, right?" I ask.
"But, I…" he starts off
"Because I heard you ask me if I was certain about what my family tells me. Unlike yours, in my family everyone has a voice and everyone knows the reasons behind our actions. I am sorry that you have been brought up with such betrayal so close to you" I tell him sincerely.
"Did I say that?" he cannot remember, off course he cannot remember.
"Yes" I say. "Are you feeling okay?" he shakes his head and pushes his hair back. I am counting on confusion for him to not say a thing.
Judy, I need to use your computer, but I cannot let the panther see me. Can you distract him? The sudden voice of Uncle Bill, just outside my door, and in my head surprises me.
"Jonas, I think I have had the wrong idea about you my whole life" I say to him. He looks at me weirdly. I stand up with my tablet in my hand and head nearer to him.
'I'm pretty sure you were right, it's just that… recently,"
"Hold that thought," I ask him and exit my room in a second. I give the computer to Bill and come back holding a comb.
"Yes?" I ask him as I try to wrestle with the wet hair. "I'm listening"
"I don't want to be pushed around, I mean, Mom always wants me to do what benefits my family by getting an aunt or a cousin pregnant, and I can't seem to do that. And now that I met Winie, I know that I can be what I want to be. I've always done what they wanted me to without question." He settles in my chair, "But now I wonder if I should not" he says.
"Walk away" I whisper
"Huh?" he turns to me.
"You don't follow their endogamy?" I ask. He twists his face. "This… dating cousins and aunts." I explain.
"No."
"You love Winie?" I ask. He nods. "Then be with her" I say softly.
"I can't" he presses on.
"Look, Jonas, grow a backbone, really, I know that they are stronger than you, but you have to be more determined than that" I still wonder when and how exactly this went from an accusation to a pep talk.
"You know I can only shift to a real panther on the full moon, right?" No, I did not. I shake my head a little. "There's so much you don't know about me" he says. I wonder what exactly it is that he wants to tell me.
"Tell you what, before you continue telling me anything, give me your email so you can tell me anything you want whenever you want. I won't judge, and I promise I'll support you as much as I can." I say to him. He nods.
I gave my tablet to Bill, so I only have my electronic agenda with me, a bit outdated, but it would do. He writes in it.
"Do you ever wonder if there is something wrong with our genes?" he asks me. I do not say a thing.
"I mean, the reason why our family is always so messed up"
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Well, our grandfathers died young. There was a cousin whose existence was cut short, who as a vampire only lived less than two years. Your mother can do that weird thing she does, and I…" Hell, no! "I have empathy. I can feel another person, really feel them as their feelings are my own. Does that sound so weird?" I stutter to find the words.
"You're an empath?" I ask. He nods.
"I realized it a few years back" he concedes.
"Then…" but he interrupts me.
"Yes, I know that your family is afraid of what my pack wants, and why we are here, but I also see beneath the distress the bravery that you have in holding yourselves. You're hiding it well, but I will not tell anyone what I know." Which is what exactly?
"Listen, Jonas…" I say. "I do not want to say the words, but I can assure you that we'll be okay"
He nods.
"I'd best be going" he decides. I nod. "Good luck with Lyn"
"Hope everything with Winie turns out okay" I say.
"It will" he assures me.
"Aunt Crystal is downstairs with Mamma?" I ask him. He nods. "I'll go with you" I say.
"Thanks for listening to me" he says. I nod. I am still a bit flabbergasted by the information, but say nothing.
"No problem" I state. Then something comes out of my mouth without my consent. "Julien Norris was at my school today." I cover my mouth.
"As was I" he tells me. "He thinks that your mother is better at keeping secrets, so he wanted to hit the weak link" he says. "Dead end, I was listening" he tells me.
"What's gonna happen now?" I ask. He looks at me tiredly, he looks older than twenty six… or is he twenty eight?
"I have to go back, but I can assure you that they back off, I know just what to say." He says with a smile. Good, that's one less threat to worry about.
"Will you keep in touch?" I ask. He smiles again, he does have a nice smile. And looks, he has blue eyes like my mom, a bit clearer than my own.
"Definitely I say" We reach downstairs and see Mamma and Crystal talking. They are either plotting or scheming. Whichever, it does not look good.
"You cannot be serious!" Crystal says to Mamma. I go to stand by her side.
"I still remember last time" I say as an explanation to placing myself between the two of them.
"They know nothing, Mom. They've only told us what we already know. Let's get back to Julien…" he starts to say. Crystal pulls her arm from his and snarls at us. I hold my place. Mamma flinches.
"I promise I will find out" she threatens.
"We are not lying to you," I assure her.
"Then how come there was a third smell at the site? The scent of dog?" she asks.
"You seem to think that my father is the only dog out there" I point out.
"We will come back, and when we do, we are not leaving alone" she says. Thankfully, Delia is upstairs, because I know just how rashly she would have reacted to that.
"Aunt Crystal, can you leave before my mother loses her temper instead of after?" I try to reason. She lets it go.
"Mom, let's go" Jonas tries to reason with her.
"Fine" she snaps and walks to the door. "But don't get too comfortable, I'll be here tomorrow morning again" she promises. I try not to groan at that.
"Don't count on it" Jonas interrupts her. "Remember what Julien said?" he asks her. She groans.
"I'll get another day" she sounds certain of herself, but I have a feeling that Jonas knows how to dissuade her. I still wonder why exactly it is that he wants to help us.
I close and lock the door behind them. Not that the lock would do any good if they really wanted to get in, but anyways. Mamma is trembling on the spot.
"I am soo not good at lying" she says to me.
"I have interesting news" I tell her.
"What?"
"Jonas is an empath" I say. Mamma scrunches up her face.
"He can sense and alter feelings" I say. "And he knows we are hiding something, though he understands and will help us, so we do not have to worry about that threat anymore" I tell her.
"That's good" she says. "Bill" He is there in less than an instant when she calls him.
After seeing how he softly comforts her rattled state and she gave me the heads up to go back to my homework, I left. Taking the tablet that Bill had placed besides himself when he arrived, I went upstairs to really study, because I had a test tomorrow.
Before really studying, I read Lyn's longer message and replied. Then, I turn to my chemistry books, knowing that I will probably not get any sleep in tonight.
I had not factored into my studying how distracting the conversation in my Mamma's room was going to be.
"Darling, I do not want to make any decisions for you" Bill spoke softly to my Mamma. He considered whether to take her hand and run his thumb through it or hold her and stroke her hair.
"But, what if I make the wrong decision and we fail? I could not stand to lose one of them, or not being able to help Clara" she says. I hear her sniff. She's crying.
"Sookie, listen to me. Hold yourself together, you are not giving yourself enough credit. Who saved all of us in the summit all those years ago? Who saved me even before that? You are very capable to handle things under stressfull situations. I know that you have always have people there to help you" Bill says, he is soothing her and stroking her hair. "You seem to forget that the girls are there to help you, not hold you back. I'd dare say that Delia is more aggressive than you, and that Judy is able of fast thinking just as yourself" he says. She sniffs a bit slower this time.
"It's my fault Sam is gone" she says. "Bill, are you sure? Because what if Crystal is right? He is just hiding? Keeping himself safe? Even from us?" she says depressed by the new idea.
"Sweetie, you don't really think that I would have come all the way up here for nothing, do you? I talked to Sam, we may have our differences, but we have been known to agree on some stuff every so often." He says to her. I wonder when exactly they agreed with each other. A sudden image of Mamma on the floor bleeding, completely inmobilized runs through me. From Bill's eyes, she needs medical attention, but a collie standing besides him seems to have other ideas. He then nods to the dog and quickly takes her in his arms. As he makes his way to someplace a bit more private, the dog makes a whining noise, as if asking him to be sure she is okay, before turning too.
"Yes, I know, isn't it ironic that you always told me that if something happened to you, I should go to Sam? Before you told me to go to Eric, it was Sam." She says. A new set of tears is leaving her and as she feels it coming she tries to stop it. Bill can't find the right words to say.
"Shh, shh, shh" he says to her, leaning in a bit closer. Mamma must have done something, because he stops making soothing noises. Just then a mental image from my mom fills my head and I know it is time to leave. I place my earplugs on too so as to not is so not where i was going with the story, but just sort of flowed. this day ended up being too too loing, even though that i promised longer chapters, well, i cannot wait to finish this day to post it completely. hope you guys enjoy it and leave behind any comments. Anyways, please drop me a line so I can improve. Since i am in vacation, chapters will probably come much easier, though i kinda lost my muse sincenew episodes are far away... and the books i am done with too. Will have to reread in order to find new things... don't worry, i still have some ideas to write out.
two questions to those that are reading:
Should i leave the Lyn and Judy story line inside and tell about how they fare until prom? because i am considering that it is becoming too much original fiction between them, so i am strongly considering leaveing it just a to as a back story.
Other thing, more vampires or not? I've been thinking of Bubba and eric, even inventing a King of northwest U.S., not just Washington cuz i already said how unorganized that is..
Anyways, please consider this. And, again, thanks for reading.