14.

A/N: Okay, that was actually book 8 that I boosted the text from in the last chapter. And I lifted dialog from the show in this one and then changed it a bit to suit my purposes. I didn't think I'd have this chapter ready so quickly, but here it is. Enjoy! twirls evil moustache…mwoo ha ha ha ha!

~Sookie~

I had missed the sun. I didn't realize just how much until I was baking languorously outside by the reflecting pool. I could feel that my days and nights were slowly getting reversed in an effort to spend as much time as possible with Eric. He'd been rising between 4 and 4:30 ever since he met me and so that helped, but I did miss my sunbathing. It was the one guilty pleasure I allowed myself. I didn't do drugs (unless you counted the right-from-the-source vampire blood that I occasionally got from Eric, and I didn't because I only drank from him during a blood exchange), I hardly touched alcohol, though I worked in a bar and I didn't smoke.

But I did sunbathe as much as I possibly could. I loved the way the sun made me feel. I felt energized after an afternoon in the sun. Jason was much the same way, but he could never really stay in one spot. I think that's why he got a job working outside, so he could be out in the sun as much as possible without just lying there.

I sighed blissfully and flipped from my stomach to my back. Unfortunately, this move now gave Bobby a full view of my body that I was sure Eric would disapprove of if he were out here. I didn't like it, but the sun had moved and so I moved with it. And it wasn't like he was actively staring at me. He was sitting at a patio table under an umbrella playing cards. He didn't think sitting outside and courting skin cancer was part of his job.

Whatever. I don't know why he had to be attached at my hip now anyway. All the vampires were resting and the humans and Were staff didn't come near me. One nice maid checked on me intermittently. I didn't sense anything dangerous to me about anyone's presence and Sophie Anne and her crew weren't going to be here until tomorrow night.

"Hey, Sookie." I was surprised by the friendly voice. I opened my eyes and Hugo was standing there smiling down at me. Bobby looked up from his card game to watch. He thought it strange that Isabelle's human was here during the day. Hugo was apparently a lawyer and worked during the day. Bobby had never actually seen him here during the day time hours.

That immediately made me suspicious so I lowered my mental guard to read his mind. He was thinking about Isabelle and her offer for the Dallas tour. Today was the perfect day to do that. We could get lunch and he could talk to me about dating a vampire. We could trade stories, tips and advice. Hugo didn't have a blood bond with Isabelle. He'd never even had her blood. He was wondering if I'd had Eric's. He was thinking about asking Isabelle if he could try hers.

Interesting.

"Hugo, hi." I sat up and pushed my sunglasses up to my forehead. I didn't bother to mask my surprise. "How are you?"

"Pretty good. I got into my office and saw that it was a slow day today, so I thought I'd come over and see if you were interested in that tour."

He seemed a little nervous, but I didn't hear anything really amiss in his head, so I looked over at Bobby. Bobby lifted his t-shirt up a little to reveal what I thought was a Glock 9 and shrugged. He thought he could definitely take Hugo if something shifty popped up and he was tired of sitting around the house, luxurious mansion that it was, babysitting.

"I guess so." I shrugged. I couldn't see a problem with it. All the vampires were resting and I'll bet Fintan was nearby. I realized then I should have asked him for a cell phone number or something, some way to get in touch with him if I needed to. "Let me go upstairs and get changed and you and Bobby can kick around ideas. I've never been here."

"Oh, you've got to see Fountain Place. It's an office building, which no big deal, right? But at the base is this totally cool garden with waterfalls and jets and it's gorgeous. I know some great places for lunch too. There's a bunch of parks and stuff. We could do indoor stuff. You've probably been out in the sun too long already, right?"

"There's no such thing." I laughed. "I'll be back in a jiffy."

I grabbed my sunblock and book and headed back into the house. The humans I passed smiled in acknowledgement. They were professional and courteous but most of them weren't a fan of mine. They didn't see why Eric was so into me. I was used to it at this point. I tried to keep my shields up as much as possible. It was just easier that way.

Our room was dark and I knew that Eric wouldn't be bothered by me turning on a lamp to see. He was sprawled out on the bed, dead to the world. I couldn't feel him now and it was such a huge difference compared to the night before when it seemed I couldn't feel anything but him.

I had absolutely no idea a blood bond would feel like that. It was intense and amazing and scary as all hell. It was so overwhelming at first. I couldn't know what he was thinking, but now I knew what he felt and that went a long way to helping me figure him out. He was a very complex person with very complex feelings. You would never know just by looking at him and talking to him what was really going on inside and I know he worked a very long to time to make it that way.

It was a beautiful day, so I pulled out a sundress and some comfortable sandals. It was silly because I know he wouldn't know, but I kneeled onto the bed and kissed Eric's cheek and then ran my fingers through his hair. I still couldn't get over that he wasn't breathing. I'd have to make sure I told Bobby and Hugo that I wanted to be back around 4 o'clock so I was here when Eric got up.

I grabbed my purse and headed back downstairs. I got a fleeting thought from Hugo when I approached them. Isabelle doesn't know. I don't know what that meant and he didn't follow that up with any related thoughts, so I was left wondering what that meant. Maybe she didn't know that his day cleared up? But what bearing would that have on her?

"You know, I don't know if I have any cash with me." I said as I got out front where Bobby and Hugo were waiting.

"I have an expense account, Sookie. The Master will be fine with it." Bobby already sounded bored. It creeped me out the way Bobby and Ginger called Eric "the Master." It's not like they were vampires or anything.

"Oh, there's tons of boutiques Downtown if you'd like to do some shopping." Hugo perked up.

"Oh, no!" I dismissed quickly. I wasn't much of a shopper anyway and I wasn't about to flounce around Dallas looking like some spoiled girl with her daddy's credit card and bodyguards. How many wardrobes did these people think I really needed? "I think a walking tour would be just fine. Is there anything you want to see, Bobby?"

"I've seen Dallas." Bobby replied. "Many times." Some of us actually travel. Ugh. This was going to be a long day.

Hugo opened the passenger side door of his BMW for me. Wow. This was a nice car. I guess Dallas lawyers did pretty well for themselves. Either that or it paid to be in a vampire inner circle.

Godric's house was outside the city limits but not too far and it seemed like we were Downtown in no time. Hugo seemed to have a parking spot in a centrally located garage. I tried to get my bearings, but I really wasn't a city girl.

We walked the shops of Downtown for a bit and despite Hugo's prodding, I didn't go into any of the dress shops. He thought that kind of odd. In his experience, women who dated vampires loved to spend their money. Stan's girlfriend, for instance, was known to spend tens of thousands of dollars in one spree. I didn't understand that. Why would I spend money that wasn't mine? My Gran would be aghast if I did something like that. She brought me up better than that. She taught me not to be impressed by flashy money. Money could buy nice clothes and fast cars, but it couldn't buy happy.

I looked around to see if I could recognize Fintan, but I didn't see him. I wondered if he disguised himself when I went to places like this. Then I thought that he probably didn't follow me around 24/7. I mean, I'd have noticed that, right? But then again maybe not. Eric said fairies all had different magics, so for all I knew, Fintan could make himself invisible. If he could hide his scent, maybe he could hide himself all together? That would be a nifty little talent and one I would be insanely jealous of.

"What do you like to eat, Sookie?" Hugo asked. "You're from Louisiana, you probably like Cajun food, but I know a great Mexican place."

"I like Mexican." I smiled. "Bobby?"

"Only if it's Mi Cocina." Bobby said.

"Well, no. I was thinking Gloria's." Hugo replied. "But we could go there."

Hugo seemed nervous and he kept eyeing Bobby warily. They both seemed suspicious of each other, which gave me a not so confident feeling. Did they both think the other was going to try something sketchy?

When we got to the restaurant, Bobby insisted on sitting in a corner so he could see everyone that came in.

I asked Hugo about his law practice and he talked about taking on vampire clients and how he'd made a lot of money doing that. That was how he met Isabelle. And boy did he love Isabelle. Bobby rolled his eyes and decided to go up to the bar to get a drink and be away from us for a few minutes. He sat in a position where he could see our table.

"Do you find it difficult to date a vampire like Eric?" Hugo asked. I lowered my shield again to see what he was thinking, but he seemed only curious. I was suddenly wishing that I was able to read all a person's thoughts instead of just the ones they were having at just that moment.

"It was definitely an adjustment." I replied. I remembered how concerned Eric was that Bill not find out that we'd only known each other a short amount of time and I wondered if that applied to everyone else, as well.

"Isabelle said he's highly respected and highly feared. You weren't scared of him? I hear he's ruthless."

"I'm not scared of him, no. But I see why people are." I added for good measure. "He really loves me."

"It's hard to trust what they say when it comes to things like that. Vampires don't really let anyone close to them. It took Isabelle a while to admit she had feelings for me."

"No, I know he does. I can feel it. We have a blood bond. We can feel each other and he can track me." This I thought was safe to tell him. The more people that knew Eric could find me quickly, the better I thought. At least, the more people in this supernatural world that knew the better; I was pretty sure this was something that Jason and Sam wouldn't be too keen to discover.

"You've had his blood?" Hugo sounded truly amazed. How is it that Isabelle hadn't given Hugo blood? Did she not love him as much as he loved her? Or maybe it really wasn't that common of a thing. Eric had said he didn't just give his to anybody.

"Uh-huh. Not a ton, just enough to be bonded. I'm no V junkie or anything." I said quickly.

"Wow." Hugo tried to process that information. All he thought was that one, Eric must really care about me to allow me to feel him; and two, I was probably pretty strong.

"What's with the bodyguard?" Hugo asked nodding in Bobby's direction.

"That's Eric's day person." I replied. "Eric's kind of possessive like that." I wasn't about to tell Hugo it was because I was a telepathic fairy hybrid. My eyes scanned the restaurant looking for someone who might be Fintan, but nobody seemed to be paying any attention to us. Hugo seemed to be sizing Bobby up as men tend to do.

Bobby sauntered back to the table and we just made small talk while we ate. I watched the clock and around three o'clock, I said I wanted to head back to Godric's.

The walk back to the garage wasn't very long. I soaked up what sun I could. Bobby thought I was a little freaky like that and decided it would be a miracle if I got through life without my skin turning to leather. But still, I didn't think it the perfect moment to tell him I was a telepath. First of all, Hugo was here and Eric was going to great lengths to keep my disability a secret as long as he could and that would negate those efforts.

The parking garage was a little chilly. Garages like that always freaked me out. They were dark and it always felt like something was lurking the dark corner waiting to jump out at you.

Just when I was about to berate myself for being dramatic, I heard the squeal of tires coming from a level above us. A van screeched around the corner. Thoughts were flying through my head like jumping beans. There they are! Who's the other guy? Take him out if you have to. Vampire lover; gonna trap one for the Reverend.

Bobby pulled his gun and reached out to grab me, but Hugo got to me first. I expected to be slammed to the pavement, but I was being yanked toward the speeding van. The side door flew open and I struggled against Hugo as he tried to drag me toward the van. Bobby began to shoot at the van and someone was shooting back. A man fell out of the van shot in the head, but I saw Bobby go down as well.

Suddenly, my shoulder exploded in pain and I knew I'd been shot. I went limp in Hugo's arms and he threw me into the back of the van, screaming at the driver that I wasn't supposed to be hurt. The pain in my shoulder overshadowed the prick of the needle and I fell into unconsciousness.

When I woke up, I was on the floor of a basement store room. At least, it felt like a basement and I was in some kind of cage. It looked just like it did in my dream and that did not give me a good feeling because in that dream, Eric and I were covered in blood. I tried to figure out if Eric was awake yet, but I didn't feel any different than before, at least as far as he was concerned. My shoulder was on fire and I felt lightheaded.

Hugo was sitting in a chair just on the other side of the fenced wall. "You!" I gasped. "How could you betray her?"

"It won't be her that comes for you." He said. He didn't see this as betraying Isabelle and as long I and the vampire that came for me were dead, he didn't see how Isabelle would ever know. "I thought I was a real emancipated thinker, especially when Isabelle took me to bed. And the sex was amazing. I mean, the best ever – well, you know. It's addictive, isn't it? To be desired by something the powerful."

"I'm no addict."

"No. I guess you wouldn't know how your life changes to suit them. You start missing work; can't get up in the morning; can't stand to leave them after dark. Before you know it, you're someone you don't even recognize."

"So you went to the Fellowship because you can't control yourself?"

"I've begged her to turn me. It's the only way we can be together as equals. But see, they don't want us to be equals. No, she's just been using me; the same way that Eric's been using you."

"You don't know Eric." I insisted. Eric didn't want to turn me either. But it wasn't for the reasons Hugo was saying. Why would Eric blood bond with me if he was just using me? Why would he make himself vulnerable like that? Hugo didn't know what he was talking about.

"All they care about is their own kind. Okay? That's why I joined the Fellowship."

"You're nothing but a traitor, Hugo."

"Gabe!" He stood up and walked to the door. "Gabe! She knows everything!"

The basement door opened and the driver from the van, a big graying, balding muscular man in Fellowship sweat suit came in with Reverend Steve Newlin.

"Hello!" Reverend Newlin smiled brilliantly. "Refreshment?" He held up a bottle of water and I would have spit at him, but my throat was parched. I'd be damned if I'd accept anything from him though.

"They're going to come for me." I pressed my hand to my shoulder. The room started to spin a bit.

"Yeah, well, that's what we thought; figured a pretty girl like you would have a vamp running off to her rescue. Actually, we were kind of hoping for it, weren't we, Gabe?"

"Yes, sir. Bring it on." Gabe agreed. He was nothing but mindless muscle.

"We're ready for them. We've been ready for them for a long time."

"You're going to get yourself killed. That's not a threat; that's a fact."

"Oh, they've got you all twisted up, haven't they?" He sighed. He actually sounded almost compassionate. He played his role well. "With their glamouring and their empty promises and their evil blood."

"You're the ones who are twisted! You call yourselves Christians? Jesus would be ashamed of you!"

He laughed and it sent a chilly shiver down my spine. "Well, we're just going to have to agree to disagree on that one. Now, things got a little out of hand when you were picked up and I apologize for that. I'm not the monster that the vampire-loving media makes me out to be."

"Yeah right." I could feel myself getting weaker and I sunk further to the floor.

"All I want from you is a couple of answers and then I'll be happy to feed you a nice hot dinner and send you on your way. I'll even wrap that shoulder up for you."

"I'm not telling you shit." I said as forcefully as I could. "You're going to have to kill me first."

"Well," he said, placing his hands on his knees and crouching down to meet my eyes. "It looks like you're well on your way there. Hugo, good job. Come on with me upstairs. We have a lot of things to take care of still. You see, darlin', we're sacrificing the vampire that comes rushing to save you at dawn. It's a big day for our little congregation. In the morning, the whole world is going to see how powerful we've become. And we will show them that the only one that rose from the dead is Jesus."

I pushed myself up on my hands and my shoulder screamed in protest. Gabe walked into the cage and looked down at me with lust in his eyes. Just then a flood of emotion flowed through me and I knew that Eric was awake. He was frantic, worried, furious. I tried to focus on him. I wasn't sure if I could call to him or not.

"You sure are a pretty girl." Gabe leered. I felt like I was going to throw up. My head was spinning now.

He bent down and I clawed at his face. He retaliated by backhanding me. I fell back to the ground, coughing. I couldn't fight him. I didn't know if he was going beat me, rape me or just finish me off, but I'd lost too much blood to effectively fend off anything his twisted mind wanted to do.

I could feel Eric. He was full of rage and he was getting closer. The anticipation and relief swelled through me and I laughed in reflex. I wasn't sure if he'd make it in time but I prayed he would.

"What the fuck is so funny?" Gabe demanded.

"Eric's coming."

"Who's Eric?"

"My vampire boyfriend. And he's going to kill you."