Chapter Ten

The next day I woke up and had to run to the bathroom. Once I had taken care of my human needs I decided to have a wash and get dressed. I was still a little sleepy but I wanted to go downstairs for something to eat. I was also hoping I would find Lucy today. I was eager to talk to her and find out what she knew.

I put on a pair of dark green crop pants and a cashmere sweater. I felt like being casual today as I would have to dress up for the ball tonight. I pulled my hair up in a bobble and slid my feet into a pair of white sneakers. I kissed Eric on the cheek. He was lying on his back, naked, in the bed and I thought briefly about forgetting my need to eat and curling up with him again. I shook myself back and stomped off to find food.

"Morning Will," I said when I reached the door to my bedroom.

"Good morning Sookie." He followed me like my shadow and we found our way to the restaurant.

I sat at the same table as I had the night before, with Eric. I looked around the lobby but there wasn't much to see. It was no surprise as the vampires were all out for the day and any humans would have had a long night. The only reason I was up was because I had slept so much on the plane and nature had called.

Will sat opposite me and we both ordered a full breakfast. I was very hungry today and I gobbled down the toast, sausage, eggs and bacon at very ungraceful speeds. I also drank down a tall glass of orange juice and sipped a mug of coffee. Will was only half way through his breakfast when I was done and he sat looking at me like he had just witnessed something miraculous.

"Hungry?" He asked with his movie star smile.

"Not anymore!" I laughed. "That's the trouble with being around vampires. My natural eating times get all jumbled up."

"That's the only trouble with being around vampires?" He said with raised eyebrows. I didn't rise to the rhetorical question. I knew he would never understand. He was a Were, he wasn't meant to.

Will was just finishing his food when I spotted Lucy in the lobby. I ran to her at almost vampiric speeds and Will had trouble keeping up with me.

"Hey Lucy do you think we can talk now?" I asked excitedly. I was talking to her like she was my best friend even though I had never spoken to her before. I just couldn't help it. I felt an affinity with her. She must have felt the same about me because she hugged me.

"Sure, come with me," she said her Russian accent barely detectable. She held my hand and led me towards the elevators. Once the three of us were inside she pressed the button for the first floor. "So you know my name. Can I know yours?" I laughed having forgotten such a common courtesy.

"Sookie. Sookie Northman now although my maiden name is Stackhouse and that's how most people know me."

"And who is this?" She looked up at Will who was smiling down at her with weary eyes.

"Sorry. I am being rude. Lucy this is Will Salbert he is my daytime body guard. Will this is Lucy Mudrov and she is going to explain to me how I know her because I haven't a clue." We laughed like school girls at the fact. We were both riding some sort of strange high at being together. It felt like I had been searching for her my whole life. It felt like I had been aching to meet with her and now that we were together I could relax.

The elevator stopped and Lucy pulled me into her room. It was a very simple suite but as we walked into the bedroom I heard Will curse. Lucy giggled to herself and I dashed back into the sitting room to see what was wrong. He was lying on the floor but he wasn't hurt.

"What happened?" I asked him confused.

"I don't know. I was right behind you then this blue wall thing slammed in my face and knocked me on my ass." I stepped back into the bedroom where Lucy was now in hysterics.

"Sorry Will," she called, "No boys allowed. Your girl will be out in a minute or two just make yourself comfy." With that the bedroom door swung shut. "I have an incantation on my bedroom that prevents men entering unless I invite them. I would much rather we have this conversation alone if you don't mind." I smiled at the way she winked at me. She was only short, about 5'1" and her figure was even slimmer than mine but I could see she wasn't a force to be reckoned with.

"Sure I would like that. So how do we know each other?" I sat down on the ottoman at the end of the bed and she sat down on the floor in front of me crossing her legs and taking both of my hands in hers.

"I was there at your ascension. You won't remember me but when you saw all things you will have seen me. I watched you fight Seth too. I was glad you beat him. I never really liked him." She pulled a face and stuck her tongue out.

"You were at my ascension? How?"

"Now that's the hard part to explain. How much do you know about me Sookie?" She looked worried. I could understand why. I knew exactly how hard it could be letting others see how different you were. Her emerald bounced slightly as she creased up her forehead.

"I know you are a seer and you work for the king of London. I was told that you don't actually see things but rather sense what is going to happen. It was thought that you had another ability but I didn't find out what it is."

"When I was five I killed all of my family. I was asleep in my bed when something possessed me. It took hold of me and used me the way a foot uses a shoe. I could see and hear. I could feel and smell. I could think and I could feel but I had no control over what was happening. I watched as a strange white light came from my fingers. When my parents came to stop me walking out into the snow the light hit them and they dropped to the floor. It was like the life had been shocked out of them. My big brother and sisters heard them fall and came to see what was happening. They died too. I walked and walked until I found a vampire feeding in the woods. Strange words that I didn't understand came out of my mouth and I went back to sleep. When I woke up I was in London and the King of London told me I would work for him. He explained that something very special had happened to me and that he was going to look after me." Her eyes seemed to be somewhere else as she recounted the memories from so long ago.

"I grew and lived. Over time I learned who I was and what I could do. The king gave me all the support he could and in return I helped him where I was able. He knew he had to keep who I was a secret just as he knew he had to protect me. I, Sookie, I am a seer but more than that I am a portal. Seers and oracles like the Ancient Pythoness are just vessels for glimpses of the future. I feel what is to come but I am an actual portal. Fate can posses me as s/he did when I was five. Fate uses me to keep an eye on this world from time to time."

"Is that why I can't read your mind?" She nodded and shrugged.

"I don't understand it all. I am just human. There are some things we are not meant to know while we are here. But we are linked."

"How do y'mean? Why do I feel like we are close friends?" I felt like my whole understanding of the universe was being flipped over, again. It seemed every time I started to believe I understood how things were I found out they were nothing like I thought at all.

"Fate was watching you Sookie. It knows you're close to fulfilling your destiny and it wants me here to make sure you do not stray from your path. You are the first of your kind and you may be the last, too. The universe is in crisis as it never has before. The conflict and chaos goes beyond normal friction. Even in times of war there are alliances but everyone is fracturing. Soon it will be too late to do anything. You were born to unite everyone and everything. I don't know how. I just know what you are and why I am here. No-one is supposed to know their purpose but that doesn't mean we can't have a helping hand along the road if we need one. I am your helping hand. You have been wondering and questioning what you should do. Do what you always do. Unite." I didn't know how to respond but the tears in her seductive eyes made me force the final question out.

"Do I have to die?" All the time she had been speaking the feeling of inevitable doom twisted and clawed at my insides.

"We all have to die Sookie. You get to decide. You get to choose what your actions will be. Fate only makes you what you are. What you do is up to you. I hope you do the right thing though because we have both seen and felt what's coming. I envy you." I stared at her aghast.

"You envy me? Why?"

"I only get to see and feel. I am a puppet and have no control over what happens in all of this. You get to make a difference. You get to do something about it. Do you know how lucky you are? Most people would give anything for that kind of freedom." She was smiling up at me with wide, animated eyes.

"I never thought about it like that. I just wanted a normal life. I never wanted to be special or have the world resting on my shoulders. I didn't think I would ever be anything important." She laughed and I looked at her with questions in my eyes.

"That's always the way. People who are special want to be normal. People who are normal want to be special. The few that are actually content, just to be, usually don't live very long. I sometimes wonder if it's all just some kind of joke. If something decided to make a universe and fill it with irony because it was bored. But seriously Sookie, you have always been what you are. You have changed along the way but we all do. Just do what you always do and hopefully everything will work out." I could hear the lie in her voice. She was hiding something from me but I knew she couldn't tell me. I probably didn't want to know anyway. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was three o'clock. We had been talking for five hours.

"Thank you," I said giving her a hug. Will huffed at her as we left the room and headed back to my suite. He was still annoyed at having to wait outside. I think he sensed that I needed some space as he didn't ask me anything but let me be quiet. The silence was bliss. I still had to bloke out his thoughts but not having to speak was wonderful and it gave me the chance to process some of what Lucy had just told me.

I thought about how she had watched her family die so that she could become the shell Fate used to walk around in. I wondered what it felt like walking around with all of that power inside you but having no control over it. I smiled to myself. I knew exactly what that felt like.

I had just stepped off the elevator when the pain started. Just like when I saw the vision of Pam it felt like my head would burst the pain was so extreme. I was screaming over and over. My eyes glazed over as the strain increased and I pushed my hands into my temples trying to hold it together but the force of the pressure in my head was too much. I wanted to die so the pain would end. I wanted to make it stop no matter what I had to do it just had to stop.

Through the torture images started to appear before my eyes. Faces of the dead. Hundreds and hundreds of faces. Fields and forests were burning. The sky was grey with smoke and ash. All through the images I could taste the bitter fear and hate. I saw images of the world in ruins. The whole world was a burning chasm of despair and death.

I heard my scream turn to sobs as my eyes began to see again. Will lifted me up and carried me into our suite where three other Weres were on guard. He put me on the couch and I curled up into the foetal position rocking myself forwards and backwards as I tried to forget the ghastly images that were still burned into my mind. I wanted to remember smiles and laughter. I wanted to remember the sound of music but all I could remember was fear, death and destruction.

Two of the guards came over to me with pity and concern in their eyes. They liked me and didn't want to see me in pain. They were worried and wanted to know what I could have seen to cause me such distress. They tried to ask me but I couldn't find words to describe the horror I had witnessed. My mind was in shock. Frozen in that world that didn't exist yet.

"Sookie you have to relax. I am going to give you something to help you, alright?" Will was crouched in front of me and he looked into my tear soaked eyes with fear on his face. I still couldn't speak so I nodded slightly. My body was shaking from the shock now and I knew I wouldn't be able to control my powers if I didn't get a hold of myself. I heard Will fumbling with something right before he injected something into my arm.

I felt a wave of warmth spread through my body. My muscles relaxed and became limp and my eyes became heavy. I felt a fog spread through my mind and I didn't try to fight it. I gave in to the haze and left the misery behind.