-Disclaimer- I don't own True Blood or any of its characters. All rights belong to the owners. AN: Hope you liked the last chapter and that you'll like this chapter! :D
*Last chapter*
"Goodbye… sister. Take care of you and let Even take care of you." Dermot whispered into my ear and we both had to laugh a little. "I'll try." I whispered back and walked to Niall. "Be careful… and don't let your emotions get the best of you, when you'll 'talk' with the Vampires." Niall simply said took both my hands in his. "Promise me you'll not do anything stupid, Sookie." He finished and hugged me tightly. "I promise, Niall." I said, and then turned to Even. He stretched out his hand and once I took it we both walked through the portal.
*End of last chapter*
Sookie's P.O.V.
As soon as we stepped into the portal the golden light encircled our bodies and I felt myself being lifted up. Out of instinct I gripped Even's hand a bit more and he squeezed it in reassurance. The entire process of transporting through portals only takes seconds, but it felt like hours. Suddenly everything around us seemed to stop and the light faded and into our vision came my old home. We had landed in the woods securely away from eyesight, but we had a good view on the road and on the house. There was light on the ground floor and as soon as we started to walk towards the house, the door opened revealing a woman of about fifty years. She nodded discreetly at us and mentioned for us to go quickly into the room.
Nothing had changed in here. Everything looked like I had left it, our old family pictures, the furniture and even the smell, everything was still the same. "Your majesties, my name is Lynn. I was the keeper of this house for the past years." She said and led us to the living room. "I kept everything as it was. The prince told me, that you would soon arrive and so I cleaned the house a little. I hope it is to your liking, princess." She said and looked around, checking her work. "You've done extraordinary work, Lynn." I said while I looked around the living room. 'I don't think the house as ever been this clean…' I marveled after I had looked at the chimney. "Thank you, princess. Before I leave, I was said to inform you of everything that happened around the house in the past years." "Go on, please." Even said and smiled a friendly smile towards her.
"A week after you left, a Vampire came to the house. It was a woman with blonde hair…" "Ah, that would be Pam." I interrupted her. "The Vampire, Pam, came to the door and asked to see you… Of course I quickly told her, that you had left and that I was the new owner. She seemed to be surprised, but quickly accepted my explanation and left. Oh… She tried to compel me, but of course compulsion doesn't work on me, so I had to pretend." Lynn explained and thought about something. Even looked alarmed for a second, but after he saw my rather relaxed state he seemed to relax to. "It is only normal for Vampires to 'check' on everything they find." I whispered to Even, after seeing his questioning look.
"Also your… Jason came by… about five days after you left. He questioned me quite a while, but he seemed to be satisfied with the answers. Before he left, he made me promise that I would take care of the house. After that he came by every year to check on the state of the house and to hunt in your woods." She continued and thought about other visitors. It seemed as if this would go on for a while so I decided to sit down. In fact it wasn't a bad idea, because for the next hour Lynn told me in detail of every visitor that came by, what he did, what he said and how he looked.
"So, that's about all." She said happily and smiled brightly. "Wow… that really was a lot… You don't know by any chance how much time passed since… the incident with Oklahoma?" I asked, fearing her answer. "A month." She stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Sure, yeah…" I quickly said and tried to cover my ignorance of this time subject. "Well, then. You know how everything works; everything that had to be said was said. I would leave now and… I wish you a very fine evening, prince and princess." She said while she got up and then bowed. 'I'm so glad I didn't have to grow up with this constantly… That's really annoying…' I thought, while we accompanied her to the back door. "Where will you go now?" I suddenly asked out of curiosity. "I'm going back to Fae." She whispered and looked behind, checking if there was someone around. But I had already checked the area with my 'special method'. "Well, princess, prince. I wish you a good night." She continued whispering and opened the back door, before she walked into the woods, to the portal we had used.
As soon as we closed the door, I let myself fall on one of the kitchen chairs and put my head in my hands. I was really exhausted after that… rather boring list Lynn had made for us. "Would you like something to eat and drink?" Even asked from near the fridge. "Yes, please. I think I heard Lynn say, that she had put something in there…" I said and looked up a bit. I followed him with my eyes to the fridge, but screamed in horror as he was about to touch the handle. "Waite! Don't touch it, it has metal!" I quickly said and walked next to him. "Relax, Sookie. I'm wearing my gloves." He said chuckling and opened the fridge to look inside. I let out a breath I didn't know I had held and sat back down on the chair I had previously occupied. "Oh, forgot to tell you if you were wondering… You're wearing them too; Niall put them on you, while he held your hands." 'Wow… didn't even realize he had done something…'
So… we have chicken… What's that?... Oh, some gratin… I think its potatoes and we have… some orange juice, water and milk. What would you like?" He finished and looked up to see me. "I'd like some gratin and water, please." I said and went to get out plates and glasses. I then put them on the counter and waited for Even to decided what he wanted, be for I put our meals on the plates and then on the table.
After we had finished eating and cleaned our dishes, we sat for a while around the kitchen table and just doing some small talk. "Oh, I'm really sorry! I haven't showed you around the house!" I realized after he had told me something about a house. "Would you like a tour?" I asked and still felt a bit guilty because I had forgotten it in the first place. "Yes, please." Even said and followed me into the hallway. "That door over there is my old room, I used to sleep in there till… my Gran got… murdered." I told him, but had to stop because of the painful memory. "I don't need to have a tour of your house if it's too painful, Sookie." I took myself a minute before I answered and then simply shook my head. "It's fine… Just need some time." I reassured him and moved to show him my room. Then I showed him the rest, before we ended the tour again in the kitchen. "Well, that's my little house. I know it's very old and there's certainly a lot of work to do, but until now I never really had the financial possibilities… Anyway… before we go to bed… I think we should clear some details."
"Continue." Even simply stated and sat down in one of the chairs. "Well… I was thinking the entire evening about what Niall said. You know that the Vampires wanted to talk?" "Yes, however he did not say a precise timing." "Exactly and that's what I wanted to talk about. When should be talk with them?" "That is a very good question, Sookie. I'd say we shouldn't wait for too long, as we have already waited for … a month. They might think, that we forgot about them." "Oh, believe me they wouldn't." I quickly interjected. "Anyway… I'd say we plan this out more tomorrow morning, we are too tired to speak about such important things right now. But I'd say, we send an… advertisement tomorrow evening. So that we can get a… date for the discussion." Even said in a very businesslike tone. "Good, then… Good night, Even. You can of course choose the room you want to sleep in, I'll go to mine." I said and smiled at him. "Good night, Sookie. Sleep well." He said and walked to the upper floor, where Dermot had spent some time.
*The next morning*
When I woke up the sun was shining into my room. It warmed up my room, but not in an uncomfortable way. Instantly I checked the house for any signs and quickly realized that I was the only one awake. Even was still sleeping upstairs. I took my time to really stretch and got up to take a quick shower, before I dressed and headed to the kitchen.
I took out all the ingredients that were needed for a good breakfast an started cooking it. When I had just fried the bacon and put it in the plates, Even walked into the room still in his pajamas. "Morning, Sookie. It smells delicious!" He said hungrily and sat down at the table. "Morning, Even. I hope I didn't wake you up?" I asked and sat down as well, sipping my freshly brewed coffee. "Oh, no. I'm usually not one that sleeps late, but the smell of your breakfast was surely enough to wake me up even more." He said and dug in hungrily. It was nice having someone next to me for a meal, someone who was actually eating it. "Wow… It tastes even better than it smelled." He said smiling in between some bites. "Oh, come on. No need to flatter me so much." I said getting a bit embarrassed. At that Even only chuckled and continued eating. And so we spent the next few minutes in silence each eating our breakfast and drinking our coffee.
"Can I ask you something Sookie?" Even suddenly asked after he had finished his breakfast. "Sure, what do you want to know?" "Why is there a faint smell of… Vampire in your old room? Especially your closet?" Even asked after putting the dishes in the shrink. "That's a long story, but I'll give you the short version, okay?" "Okay, although one day I'd like to hear the long version." Even said and started cleaning our dishes although he could've done it by magic.
"Well, I once had a boyfriend. He was a Vampire and he wanted a safe place in my home, so he did not have to flee my house as soon as the sun would come up. So he made that hole in my closet, so he could spend the daytime in there. And well… then I had another…" "Boyfriend?" "Yes and no. It's kind of hard to explain… At one point he tricked me into an unwanted… I got pledged to him. And from there on our relationship started to end… " "The Vampires you went to… when you let your emotions take over… Was that one of them?" Even asked and observed me. "Yes… He's the… husband of Oklahoma. He … left me for her and other reasons." "I see. And the Vampire, Pam, was it?" "Yeah, Pam. She's his child, she's Eric's child." I said and as soon as these words left my mouth, I heard some dishes hit against the bottom of the shrink. "Eric the Vampire? As in Eric Northman? You were… with him?"
"You know him?" I asked him now truly curious. "The better question is who hasn't…" Even said with some bitterness and continued washing the dishes. "He is well known. His warrior skills are well known in our world, but you probably know this already." He said after he looked at me from the side. "Yeah, I heard of them and saw him fighting… I just didn't know he was also so known in our realm." I explained and dried the plates he handed me over. "So to continue with my story… He used to use it too. That's way there's Vampire smell in my closet and room." 'However I don't know, why he can still smell this… It has been twenty years…'
Once we had finished cleaning the kitchen, Even quickly went to dress and then we continued talking. "Remember our goal in this entire situation, is to get away without a war. And best it would be to have a peace agreement… at least for a certain time." Even said observing the birds on the trees just outside the kitchen window. "Yes, I know. Plus my goal it is to not let my emotions rule over me, but to rule my emotions." I said slightly annoyed, while I thought about what I could do till this evening. "What are you thinking about?" Even asked me after some minutes of silence. "I had thought I could pay someone a visit tonight… But I was wondering what I could do till then." "Well, we could always do some training." "Okay, then let's do some training." I said and we both walked outside to start with the training.
Several hours later I was completely exhausted, sweaty and dirty from the training. At first Even had been all nice and gentle, but then I asked him to have no mercy with me. It took him several minutes to accomplish my wish, but afterwards I really regretted asking for it in the first place. After that he had showed no mercy and soon I was flying across my entire yard. From time to time he would let me hit him with my blast, but I never really got the chance to do more. "It wasn't that bad. You have a certain potential." Even said jogging next to me, while I was nearly crawling. "Oh, thanks!" I said with my voice laced with sarcasm. "No, really. Of course you need a lot more training, but you have a certain talent." He continued and I was tempted to throw something at him, if he did not shut up soon. He really seemed to be still full of energy, while I was completely exhausted and ready to fall down.
"I'm going to take a quick shower and then I'll take a nap, or else I won't be able to go through this evening." I told him and took out my hair from the elastic, which was holding it together in a high ponytail. "All right, I'll take the other bathroom. Would you like something to eat?" "Oh, yes please." I answered and walked to my bathroom.
Half an hour later I was showered and dressed, eating my late lunch, early dinner. "It's delicious, Even." "Thanks, as you may imagine in our realm I don't often get the chance to cook, but when I can I do enjoy it." Even said proudly after a bite of his plate. "How come you didn't tell me your true identity, when we first met?" I asked curiously. "Well… you never asked." Even simply stated. 'I could've come up with that answer too…' I thought amused. "So, who are you going to visit later?" "An old friend…"
Some minutes later we appeared in front of the back doors of the bar. "What are we doing here?" Even asked angrily and observed the entrance of Fangtasia. "I told you, we're visiting an old friend." I said, while I remarked that the bar hadn't changed that much. 'I hope she's at least here…' "I'm just wondering if we should enter through the back or the front…" I wondered loudly, but simply had to ask Even. He gave me a sense of security and he was really great at listening. I had the feeling that you could talk about everything with him. "I'd say since you haven't been here in a while, I'd rather go through the front. Besides you don't know what's in the back." Even said and I could feel that he was doing something. Before I really had a chance to realize what he had done, we were dressed in suited clothes. I was wearing a nice, glittering, quite short black dress and Even was wearing a black shirt, the buttons of the top open and black pants. "I like your taste." I stated chuckling and took his offered arm.
Together we walked to the front and there was a Vampire I had never met before. He had short black hair and was wearing the usual attire of the Fangtasia uniform. When he turned into a Vampire he was probably at the beginning of his thirties. When we passed in front of the Vampire, he began to make remarks about my good looks and other stuff. Even seemed to get really jealous or angry and simply ushered me inside, sending glare after glare to the Vampire. "Relax, Even." I whispered and took a closer look at the bar. It all looked still the same, but there were many Vampires I did not know or recognize. We then walked to the bar and ordered something from the human waitress.
It is common knowledge, that Fairies are beautiful creature and that humans are especially attracted to them, but I did not like the way she was ogling Even. As soon as I realized this, I tried to relax or at least to seem a bit more normal, but Even had already noticed my change in behavior. He leaned closer towards me, much to the waitress's annoyance and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me, but then he whispered into my ear. "Relax, Sookie." He breathed and chuckled softly, giving me one of his most dashing smiles. At that comment and at his smile, I just had to blush and I turned slightly away to hide myself. Suddenly I discovered two very well-known people. One I had searched for, but the other I had hoped to not see again so soon.
I really needed to tell Even, that I had found them, but I did not want them to hear me. So, I tried my hardest to push my thoughts towards Even. 'Even! Can you hear me?' 'Yes, Sookie. I can hear you loud and clear.' 'Great! I really need you to tell you, that I found them.' 'Who?' 'Pam, the one I had been searching for and… Eric.' 'You mean he's here? In this room?' 'Yep and… he's coming closer.' I thought towards Even, while my instincts told me to run. Run fast and far.
Thank you so much for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it! Please review and let me know what you thought. :D