AN: This chapter was difficult to write. I apologize about the time it took to post this and the fact that it is so long (It really should be split into two chapters… maybe I will do that). Although most of you who leave comments like my original characters, I know that this is a True Blood story and so I try to incorporate the actual True Blood characters as much as possible. With that said, this chapter doesn't really contain them. The next chapter will have all of your favorite characters in it and a TON of drama. And when I say a ton of drama, I really do mean a ton. I'm going to try and have that next chapter out within the week, since I spent most of my time writing that chapter and not this one. Its almost summer and I will have more time to finish this story. My goal is to have it all wrapped up right before the new season of True Blood starts. Enough of this authors note, on to the story. Read/Review/Favorite because I love you. 3

Even though my new lawyer wasn't trying to grope me, he still left a lot to be desired. The first thing I told Nicholas Pratt to do was to get a plea bargain with the prosecutors. That was probably the first time I realized how much trouble I was in. The state was so determined to lock me up in a maximum security prison that they refused to make any deal with Nicholas. I didn't understand it at first, since they had previously made a deal with Buchanan. But the more time I spent with Nicholas, the more I understood.

Nicholas Pratt wasn't exactly intimidating. He seemed to be constantly jumpy and jittery: always shuffling some papers, clicking a pen, biting his lip. He was making eye contact with me now, but he still jolted every time I made an unexpected movement, like stretching. I imagined he was probably the same way with the prosecutors. My fears were realized when I heard some of the guards joking about Nicholas: "The kid couldn't scare a goddamn rabbit," one of them said from another room, but I could still hear them because of my vampire senses. The other responded, "The state won't even need to try to get a conviction on this one." The fact was that Buchanan had the resources and the prestige to get the prosecution to bend to his every whim. My novice public defender, however, was a joke to the prosecution.

Finally, I told Nicholas to at least convince them to speed up the trial date. Nicholas became quite anxious after I requested that from him: "But the evidence against you is quite… significant."

I sighed, "I don't care. I'm growing weary of rotting in a cell."

"But you'll be rotting in a cell anyways if we lose."

He was right, to an extent. If we lost there was no way I would avoid prison, but in the back of my mind I still held onto the belief that I could leave anytime. I had the ability to, as a vampire, and I was confident that nobody could really comprehend the extent of my nearly 1800 year old powers.

The next night, Nicholas had quite a bit of news to report; "The state and Judge Riviera agreed to a trial next month."

I grinned at him. June was less than two weeks away. "Perfect, thanks."

But Nicholas wasn't finished; "I also found a cardiologist who will testify on your behalf."

"Really?" I was slightly surprised, since I thought of Nicholas as almost entirely incompetent.

He nodded eagerly and slid me a brief on the cardiologist. "What do you think of him?"

I hardly looked at the paper. At this point, I would accept any professional willing to help me- I didn't care if it was a professional mechanic as long as it was someone.

"He'll do."

"Are you sure?"

Nicholas had this irritating sense of insecurity about him. I was determined to break it. "You're my lawyer, if you think he's acceptable, then so do I," I told him and pushed the paper back over to him.

"But I'm a new lawyer, and you're an old vampire. You know better."

"I don't know better, I never went to law school. In fact, I never went to any school. So if we're basing this argument on educational experience, I'm convinced you would win."

Nicholas looked perplexed, as if he couldn't imagine anyone never going to school. What he didn't understand, I'm sure, is that the idea of a formal education was a fairly recent one, and the idea of teaching women was even more recent. Considering those factors, and the fact that I am perpetually stuck in the body of a teenager, it was no wonder that I had never gone to college- or even high school. That's not to say I was ignorant. I was well-read and fluent in many languages. And because of my age and experiences, I knew more about the history, geography, and sociology of the world than most people. But even still, I knew almost nothing on the intricacies of the legal system.

"I think we should review the state's case, so that we can prepare to defend you from it." I nodded, and Nicholas rummaged through his brief case and pulled out some pictures. They were newspaper pictures of the boys I had allegedly attacked. "The prosecution will tell the jury that you violently assaulted these boys at their high school prom. And we should say that they…. Provoked you?"

I cringed inwardly at his word choice. "I don't think "provoked" is a good word. I'm not a bear, or something. I was peacefully participating in the dance, when those boys began harassing me. I was simply defending myself."

Nicholas wasn't convinced. "I'm sure the prosecution will just say that, as a vampire, you do not need to defend yourself from a few human boys. They would not be able to harm someone like you, and so you used inappropriate force to defend yourself. What should we say to that?"

I groaned, "The fact is, that if they had not been harassing me, there would have been no conflict in the first place. They were intoxicated, and one of them grabbed me. I pushed him off of me, and although I did use some force, he was drunk and his sense of balance was less than perfect."

Nicholas began feverishly searching though his notes again. "The police report doesn't say anything about the boys appearing intoxicated…"

Now I was shocked. "It doesn't? They clearly were. One of them spilled some vodka he had in his water bottle on me. Who was the officer who wrote that report?"

"Officer McNeal."

"We should definitely confront Officer McNeal and those boys on that in court."

"The court will side with the officer nine times out of ten," Nicholas told me sadly, but I wasn't discouraged.

"Maybe we'll be lucky number 10."

"I've never been very lucky," Nicholas mumbled pathetically.

Neither had I, but I wasn't about to tell Nicholas that. He put that picture away and pulled out another one. It was of Godric and I dancing, our faces close together. We were smiling, and if I were an unbiased third party, I would have assumed we were just two kids having the time of our lives at a dance. But I knew better.

Nicholas pushed the paper across the table to me, but I just let it sit there. "Who is he?"

"The prosecution won't ask me that," I responded staunchly.

"Why? He's practically an accomplice; he came and left with you."

It irritated me to even think about the situation. "It was Nan Flanagan's wish that he was not charged- or even associated- with this trial. The prosecution respected her wish."

Nicholas was surprised, to say the least. It was clear that he had expected the justice system to work exactly as he had learned it in school. I was pretty sure this case was jading him.

"Well, how is he more important than you?"

I grinned a little at the way he phrased the question- as if I were the most important vampire in the world. "That's just it- I'm unimportant. I'm nobody. He's a Sherriff."

"He's… a police officer?"

I chuckled a little and said, "No, no. Sorry, I forget you're unfamiliar with vampire terminology. He's like the human equivalent of a governor, or a mayor. He's a prominent figure in an area of Texas. His name is Godric."

Nicholas was staring at the picture, and it was clear that he could see the evident trust and happiness between Godric and I. "Is he, like, your boyfriend or something?"

Not anymore, I thought furiously. "No. He's my maker."

"So… he's like, your dad."

"Definitely not. A maker is not a parent. A maker is just the vampire that turns a human into a vampire. His blood runs through my veins, but we aren't related any more than that." I was undermining our relationship because at that moment, I wished that's all we were to each other. The more involved I became in this case, the more I resented Godric for abandoning me here.

"You seem a lot closer to him in this picture."

"If we were really that close, he would be in the cell next to me, not all the way back in Texas," I muttered hatefully. Nicholas seemed to notice my change in mood, because he promptly packed up his papers and promised to come up with a good defense during the day. Our trial was starting in less then two weeks, but we still had a long way to go.

***Centuries Ago***

"My name is Juliana, and I'm your great niece. I've come all the way from Rome to help take care of you. You haven't seen me since I was five years old, but you remember that I was always a sweet little girl who loved to play outside by the water and with the sheep."

The elderly woman nodded, her blue eyes wide in impetuous acceptance. Her name was Bia, or Grandma Bia as I was going to call her. Apparently she was a Roman native, but had moved to Yorkshire, England with her daughter when her daughter got married. Tragically, her daughter and son-in-law recently died in a fire. But, thankfully for me, this left the perfect opportunity to blend into England. Once I finished glamouring this woman, I would have a home, a human as a reference (and potentially a food source) and a new life.

I glanced over at Godric when I was finished. He nodded his satisfaction. "It's best to keep it simple," he advised me, "Too many details will just raise suspicion with others."

Eric stood in front of Grandma Bia and demanded, "And you will never rescind our invitation."

She shook her head, "I will never rescind your invitation."

The Viking smirked, but shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "I think we can move on now; Juliana can handle herself from here."

Godric threw him a sideways glance, as if to challenge his impatience, but turned to me. "Eric's right," I told him, "I'll be fine."

Godric reached for my hands and squeezed them. "I know you will be. You are very strong."

"Thank you."

He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "We will come back and visit you. And I will come the second I think you need help."

"I'll be fine," I repeated with a smile. Godric looked worried, and a little sad, but he followed Eric out the door. I walked outside and saw Katarina standing dejectedly in front of the house. She turned towards me when she heard me exit. "Juliana!" She quickly called out, and made a motion to approach me. Both Eric and Godric got in her way. She tried to move around them as she begged, "Please, I need to tell her something."

Before I could respond, Eric quickly snapped at her in Lithuanian, "You've caused enough problems. Be quiet."

"Eric," I said warningly, but he ignored me.

"Transform, and follow us. We're going to moving all night," he directed Katarina. She was still looking at me, her eyes alone calling for me to stop them. I honestly felt terrible about leaving her with them, I didn't think she was ready to travel with two vicious vampires. But at that point, there was nothing I could say. She was Eric's, and I had no control over what he would choose to do with her.

Eric shoved her forward, and she grudgingly turned into a wolf at his touch. Eric darted off first, and Godric said goodbye to me before vanishing into a blur after him. The last I saw of Katarina was the flick of her tail as she trailed behind them.

I returned back inside the house and sat on a chair next to Grandma Bia. She had picked up a swatch of cloth and a needle and had returned to an embroidering project she was working on. I watched as she expertly pushed and pulled the needle through the cloth, quickly spelling out a name- Elizabeth, who was undoubtedly her daughter. She blinked back tears, but continued to sew as if sewing was the cure to her pain. I left her for a moment to grab a cup of tea and a handkerchief for Grandma Bia. She smiled solemnly at me and said, "Thank you, Juliana," as if she had known me her entire life. I considered for a moment glamouring the pain of her daughter's death out of her memory, but I stopped myself. Although I had her best interest at heart, I didn't want to take away her humanity while I removed her suffering. When she finished spelling out Elizabeth, Grandma Bia began digging through a basket of thread to start some flowers. "White lily's were her favorite," she told me.

I felt guilty for intruding into this woman's life when it was in such an obvious state of disarray. It was also a little bit awkward, since I had no idea how to comfort a grieving woman without using my powers- let alone a complete stranger.

As she was furiously digging through her basket of spools, she began to mumble, "Where is the ivory?" After nearly a minute more of searching, it was clear that there was no white thread. I volunteered to get some for her. "Oh, thank you, bambina. That would be lovely."

I left for the nearest store, and for the first time in a very long time, I felt human. It was strange to have to do such a menial task as purchasing thread. When was the last time I had done something that didn't put me in a life or death situation? I couldn't recall.

The store was very small, only about a twenty-foot-wide square, but the store was filled with walls of thread, fabric, and ribbon. It was a tailor or a seamstress's dream. Immediately, I felt lost. "You look terribly lost."

I spun around at the voice, probably faster than a human would have reacted and inwardly cringed at exposing myself. It was a man, definitely not the type of man I would have guessed to be in a sewing store. He was tall and thick with muscle mass- at least a foot taller than me, and probably 100 pounds more. He was pale, with thick blonde hair and big blue eyes, but his skin had this thin layer of dark dust that littered his arms and face.

I raised an eye brow at him. "Not as lost as you, I dare say. What is a coal miner doing in a sewing shop?"

He chuckled loudly- he had a very positive energy- and grinned at me. "I'm watching this store for my mother and sister while they prepare supper. Is there anything you need help with?"

"I need white thread," I told him.

He held out his arm like a gentleman. It was a little dramatic, and he was clearly flirting with me, but I just laughed and took his arm. "Right this way," he said, leading me all of two feet to a section of white thread.

"Thanks," I said as I selected the one of the spools. "How much is it?"

He took the spool from my hand and turned it over. Then, he held it up to the light, and tugged on the loose string. After he was done mock-examining it, he handed it back to me and said, "Well, I believe that one is free."

I was stunned for a moment at his kindness, but then said, "That really isn't necessary. I would be more than happy to pay for it-" And that was when I remembered that I didn't have a cent to my name. I really couldn't pay for it. I suppose that had I not run into this gentleman, I would have just stolen the spool, or glamoured the shopkeeper into giving it to me for free.

The man just shook his head. "Please, it is on me."

"Thank you very much."

He bowed slightly at the knees and tipped an invisible hat to me. "You're very welcome, my lady. And what should I call you should I ever run into you again?"

I grinned, "Juliana."

"What a beautiful name, Juliana."

I couldn't stop smiling. "And what should I call you?" I asked.

"David."