DISCLAIMER: I do not claim any right to Charlaine Harris's brilliant characters, I am only using them for the pure fun in writing on this fan fiction page. I intend to gain nothing but the pleasure of writing using the wonderfully talented Ms. Harris's Characters. I am simply trying to pass the time while I anxiously await Ms. Harris's next Sookie Stackhouse novel.

I had been so busy concentrating on getting my message to Barry, that I hadn't even noticed Jasper leave the room. But no sooner had I realized he was gone, he was walking back in through the door.
"So Sookie," he said as he walked toward me with some sort of bracelet looking thing in his hand. "I think it's time I untie you. First, there's something I must do to keep you from running."

He bent down to my ankles and attached the bracelet around the left one, clasping it shut, before untying the rope that had bound my legs.

"What is that?" I asked.
"Oh, I call it insurance; you might call it a monitoring bracelet." He said with a slight chuckle in his tone.
"So it's like one of those bracelets people have to wear when they're on house arrest or something?"
"Yes, basically; only this one is an invention of my own, modified to emit enough of a shock into your body to immobilize you while I get you back in line."
"Back in line?" I said, inserting my own chuckle. "You know, for someone who claims that I will grow to like you and enjoy myself here, you contradict that statement greatly by putting an electric shock device on me."

He had unbound my hands now too, and I instinctively grabbed at the bracelet around my ankle, moving it to adjust it more comfortably. I had to consider the fact that the shock bracelet might pose a problem during my rescue, well, assuming I was going to be rescued.

"Oh, I don't anticipate that you will actually feel its power, as I'm sure you are a smart enough girl to figure out what a bad idea that would be," he said. "I assure you, it would be a very painful mistake."
"Now, feel free to walk about the room, I'm sure you need to stretch your legs. There is a bed in the corner, I imagine you're getting quite sleepy," he said, and suddenly I noticed a few things I wasn't able to see behind me while I was tied up. There was also a door leading into another room near the bed.
"What's through that door?" I asked pointing to it.
"Oh, that is a bathroom," he said. "I hadn't thought about you needing that until you mentioned it. Forgive me for forgetting that particular human need."
"Well then, I guess I'll just go to it," I said walking toward the bathroom. Jasper started to follow me. "Do you mind? Most humans like to pee alone."
"Oh, of course," he said.

I did need to pee pretty badly, now that I mentioned it. I wondered if I would be lucky enough to find a window in the bathroom large enough for me to squeeze through. No such luck. There was a teeny, tiny window with bars across it. I might be able to get my hand through it but that would be about it. Of course now that I was able to see out this window, I was able to tell how far under ground I was, which meant I was maybe in a basement somewhere, rather than in the depths of a deep underground dungeon. This might help Bill and Eric find me. I thought it might be useful to let Barry know about the window, and the fact that I wasn't as far under ground as I had thought.

But Barry chimed in before I could.

"Sookie," he said.

"Hey Barry, I was just about to contact you, did you talk to Bill and Eric yet?"

"Yes, I got a hold of Bill, but Eric wasn't with him, and there's no answer on his phone, but I did leave him a message. Bill hasn't heard from him yet."

"Oh no, where could Eric be? I hope he's okay. Oh no."

"Listen, Bill is close to you, he says he can feel you."

"Really? Just like that?"

"Yes, but he's still trying to figure out which direction he can feel you the strongest."

"Barry, I was going to tell you that Jasper has untied me and there's a bathroom in the room with a tiny window in it. I can see outside just barely. That means I must just be in a basement or something. That might help Bill find me."

"Okay, how much can you see out the window?"

"Not much," I said, as I eased the tiny window open to get a better look. "Um, I see a lot of pine trees; we're definitely still in the forest. I can see the moon, so I guess the room I'm in is facing south, maybe southwest."

"Okay, that might help him, I'll let him know," he said. "What is Jasper doing right now?"

"I don't know, I'm still in the bathroom, but I'd better hurry before he suspects something is up."

"Okay, he hasn't hurt you has he?"

"No, but he did put an ankle bracelet on me that he says will immobilize me with a shock if I try to escape…that might be a problem if Bill finds me."

"Okay, I'll let Bill know that too,"

"Be careful Sookie, don't worry, I have a good feeling Bill will be there very soon."

"Thank you Barry…I owe you."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't mention it."

Almost as soon as I had cut away from Barry, there was a knock at the bathroom door.
"Is everything alright Sookie?" Jasper said through the door.
"Uh…yeah, everything's fine. Just freshening up a bit," I replied. Oh no, I hope he wouldn't misconstrue my freshening up for his benefit. "I'll be right out."

Even after all I had been through tonight, I was surprised that I still looked half decent. My dress, however slightly wrinkled from sitting in the same position for so long, was at least still pretty to look at. The fact that I wear very little make up kept me from having raccoon eyes, and my hair, which I had worn down and blow-dried straight had a slight wave to it now, but still looked good, I thought.

But I sure didn't feel good. I was wary of how the rest of the night would go. I was scared that even if bill did find me, there'd be no way for him to fight off Jasper and the other vampires. And I was worried for Eric. The man was over 1,000 years old, and perfectly able to take care of himself, but if that was the case now, where was he? Why hadn't Bill heard from him? My thoughts would have to wait, because Jasper was knocking again.

"I'm coming out, hold on!" I was irritated that my train of thought had been interrupted once again by the demanding vampire waiting on the other side of the door for me. I opened the door to a now dark room, occupied only by Jasper, and lit only by candles; many, many candles. Maybe hundreds, from what I could see. Wow, I hadn't been in the bathroom for more than ten minutes, and he had managed to transform the room from dark and depressing to dreamy and illuminated. This was not good. I knew what Jasper wanted from me, well one of several things I suspected. But I hadn't expected him to ask for it so soon.

"Um, what's all this?" I managed to say a bit shaky, as I still clung a hand to the bathroom door handle. Jasper was sitting on the bed near the door.
"I wanted to make you comfortable lovely," he said, rising from the bed and walking toward me. I could feel a shiver shudder throughout my body as he placed one of his cool hands on my cheek. "Do you like the candles?"
I might have appreciated the romantic gesture if it had come from Bill, or even Eric. But Jasper scared me. And I didn't know what I was going to do to get out of the current situation with him.
"I, I'm not feeling very well Jasper," I said, which was the complete truth. Just the thought of having sex with him made me feel sick. And it had nothing to do with his looks, under normal circumstances; I would have jumped his bones. Had he come along while I was single, and had actually treated me like a respectable woman, that would have been different. But there were a million reasons why I could not, and would not yield to him without a major fight. And I sure hoped it wouldn't come down to that, because I would obviously lose.

"You're just nervous," he said, grabbing me gently by my shoulders and pulling me toward him in an embrace. "Shhh…everything will be alright. I won't hurt you."
I started sobbing into his chest, I could smell a trace of cologne on him, and I simply couldn't control my tears. I closed my eyes, and Bill's face flashed in my mind, then Eric's. I had never wanted to see them more in my life. And while I was sure I would be fine if I just did what Jasper told me to do, all I could think of was Bill; and the possibilities of me hurting him again, even if I was being forced into sleeping with Jasper.
"Please don't make me do this Jasper, I'm begging you," I pleaded, looking up into his eyes.
"Sookie, I won't make you do anything you don't want to, but please give me a chance," he said, as he moved me away from him and took both my hands in his. "Please, just sit with me for a moment."
"Okay," I said reluctantly, and we walked over to the bed and sat down beside one another.
"What is it you like so much about this Bill?" He asked. "What is so special that he does, that I could not take his place?"
"That's a bit personal I think," I said, and I had turned from sobbing to being rather annoyed by his invasive question.
"Well, I think I should know, so that I may know how to take your mind off of him. I know you're thinking about him."
That was the truth, I was also wondering just how long I would have to keep up the conversation in order to stave off Jasper's intention of bedding me right here. Would it be long enough for Bill to find me?

"And why wouldn't I be thinking of him?" I said, as I scowled at him. "I'm sitting here on a bed with a man whom I've known for all of four hours, who kidnapped me, and has every intention of keeping me against my will to do God knows what with, and you wonder why on earth I would be thinking of the man I love?"

I was irate now, and started to edge myself off the bed to run back to the bathroom and away from Jasper, but that wasn't going to happen. Before I could get a foot away from the bed, he had grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into his embrace again. And before I could protest, he was kissing me deeply, one arm wrapped tightly around my waist, and the other behind my head. And like the first time he had kissed me, I couldn't seem to push him away, and began responding to his lips with my own rhythm. He might not have been able to glamour me but I was sure there was some other power he was using to control me, and I couldn't stop myself from kissing him back.

He broke off the kiss every several seconds to speak a few disheveled words. "I wanted you the instant I saw you…" He continued kissing me. "I knew…you would want me too…"
It was as if I knew in my head that I didn't want to be kissing him, but I had no control over my body.
"I want to see you…all of you…" he said, reattaching to my lips, while grabbing at the bottom of my dress and lifting it up.
I let him remove my dress, and in the same motion he laid me down on the bed and was on top of me. My brain was screaming in distress. And I could do nothing about it.

And then I didn't have to. Jasper suddenly stopped and jerked his head up, as if he could hear something I couldn't. There was a loud bang on the door, and in an instant, the door had flown off its hinges, knocking over at least twenty candles in its wake.

It was Bill…and Eric. And I suddenly snapped out of my daze and took half a second to thank the Lord for my two vampires.
"What the hell? How did you find us," Jasper said, though I figured he'd get a hug from Bill and Eric before he'd get a response to his question. They were full on ready for a fight, fangs and all.
"Get off her!" Bill yelled, wearing the most insane look on his face, his expression exuded anger, intent to kill and jealousy, all at once. For a moment, I wondered if it was directed at Jasper or me. Jasper quickly jumped off of me and flew to the opposite side of the room, landing in front of Eric.

I jumped to my knees on the bed, grabbing my dress to cover myself. I would have felt humiliated if not for the fact that I was more worried about Bill and Eric fighting Jasper at the moment, than I was about my near nakedness in front a vampire audience of three. I took in a direct heated glare from Bill before I flung the dress over my head and shimmied into it. He no doubt wondered why I was half naked under Jasper when they busted the door down.

By now, the candles the falling door knocked over had caught fire to a pile of blankets near the bed, and I screamed because the rapidly growing flames were blocking me from the exit, and keeping me right where I was.

In the next second, Bill was beside me on the bed scooping me into his arms, while Eric and Jasper were in a face off on the opposite end of the room. "Oh, Bill…" I started to say but suddenly found no other words appropriate for the situation. "Thank God." He just looked at me momentarily, and jumped over the flames that had started to spread to the bed, with me in his arms.
"You're not taking her anywhere," Jasper commanded, looking at Bill with his fangs fully extended. "Royce! Royce goddamnit! Where the hell are you?!"
"Oh, Royce wouldn't happen to be the really big ugly guy that was guarding the door outside, was he?" Eric said, with a palpable smile on his face. "He wasn't a very good guard without his lasso of silver. In fact, I'd say you chose a bunch of pansies for guards altogether."

At that moment, Bill put me down just long enough to put on a pair of gloves, the same kind the vampire who threw the silver lasso around Bill in the limo had worn, and then he threw a pair to Eric, who was still in a battle stance in front of Jasper. I must say, if the smile on Eric's face didn't show his love for fighting, I don't know what would. Bill reached down and grabbed a silver rope, possibly the same one that had been used on him, and threw it toward Jasper. At the same moment, Eric, who had already put on the gloves, threw another silver rope from the opposite direction, and the two came together over Jasper simultaneously.
"You won't get away with this! I'm the King of California for Christ's sake!" Jasper wailed in anger, and possibly pain, the silver was touching his bare arms; he had yet to get his own shirt off after removing my dress. Too bad, I thought, if he didn't have a shirt on, his chest would be in pain as well.
"Doesn't feel so good does it?" Bill said to Jasper, and then looked at Eric. "Eric, what's the plan here?" Both Bill and Eric had firm grips on their lassos which would have been all well and good if the room wasn't burning out of control.
"You guys, we have to get out of here!" I yelled.
"Bill, tie his feet and I'll get his hands," Eric said. "Quickly, the fire is out of control."
When Jasper was bound, I got in his face. "How's it feel you bastard? How's it feel!" I said tears running down my face again, but they were tears of rage. I was suddenly so passionately angry that I had almost been forced into having sex with Jasper, and I knew that any response I had given him while he was kissing and undressing me was purely artificial. He had to have had some kind of power over me at the time.
"Sookie, you have to control yourself. I know you were scared, I know this was horrible for you but we have to get out of here right now," Bill said, grabbing me hard by the shoulders in order convey to the gravity of the situation.
"Okay. I'm fine, I know, I'm sorry," I said, pulling myself together.

Eric grabbed Jasper, who was finally completely immobile, and threw him over his shoulder. No easy fete considering Jasper was nearly as big as Eric, and certainly bigger than Bill. Bill scooped me up, and we all headed out of the burning room. I didn't know where we were headed, but I was certainly relieved it was Jasper who was tied up now rather than me.

Of course with the fire burning out of control, and Eric and Bill trying to detain Jasper, we had all but forgotten about the bracelet wrapped around my ankle; the bracelet that was about to render me immobile.