I wasn't born then, but I think I know how Bob Dylan must have felt at the Newport Festival in 1965, lol. Thank you to those of you who had faith in me. If you look at the title of the story you will see where I was going with this from the beginning.

I came to slowly. I felt the presence of Eric and Godric and I felt safe. It took me a few seconds to realize where we were. We were underground, surrounded by dirt. Before I could even stir, I heard Godric's soothing voice.

"It's ok, Sweetheart. You're ok. Everything will be fine." His definition of fine sure was different from mine.

"I'm a vampire, aren't I?" I asked him, though I knew the answer.

"Yes," Godric answered.

"Niall? And the triplets? Are they safe?"

"Yes."

"Appius?"

"Dead."

"Good."

Eric and Godric dug us out. I was too shell-shocked to contribute and anyway my digging-myself-out-from-six-feet-under skills were probably not close to as good as theirs.

The trip back to the hotel was silent. I sipped my third Tru Blood of the night and it wasn't half bad. I'd gulped the first two down as soon as we'd gotten above ground, but I had been so famished I could barely make out the taste.

I tried to gather my thoughts, but my mind was reeling and I could barely keep up with it. One moment I wanted to stake them for what they had done and the next I was grateful that we were still together. Godric and Eric were wise enough to let me be, to keep the bonds comforting but unobtrusive. God knows what I would have said or done if they had pushed me.

When we arrived at the hotel I demanded my own room, marched up to it with the vampires in tow and slammed the door, leaving them in the hallway. I went straight to the bathroom, which thankfully had a bathtub, and let the water envelop me. It was soothing to let all my emotions and frustration run through me while surrounded by water, feeling almost weightless. At one point I spent over 10 minutes under water, fascinated by the fact that I no longer needed to breathe.

When I had calmed down enough to face Eric and Godric again I got out of the tub. I didn't know who or when, but someone had left a suitcase full of clothes in my size in my room. I had just finished dressing when there was a knock on the door. I could feel who it was so I didn't need to ask.

"Come in," I said and I made sure to sound as unwelcoming as possible. I didn't particularly want to see them but I did want answers.

"Which one of you turned me?" I didn't have the time or inclination for niceties.

"Both."

"Both?"

"Yes, we both drained you and we both replaced your blood with ours."

"Well, isn't that just great. You shared your fairy snack like good little vampires!" If I sounded angry and bitter it was because I was. Really, really angry. And incredibly bitter.

"Sookie," Eric started, but I didn't let him finish.

"Don't you Sookie me, you big brute. The last couple of times I've seen you you've tried to rip my throat out. So you don't get to say my name. As a matter of fact, don't talk to me at all!"

If I didn't know better I'd say the big bad Viking vampire looked chastised. Good. These two had a lot of grovelling to do if they wanted to get back into my good graces.

"Who killed me? Was it one of you?"

"No, Sookie of course not! One of Appius' minions. He's dead."

"Why did you turn me? You should have just let me die."

"Sookie," Godric said and stretched out his hand towards me. "I understand that you are angry, but please listen."

"No!" I shouted and swatted his hand away. "You don't get to tell me what to do. Let's make this perfectly clear. I don't care that you two idiots are my makers. You will never, ever command me to do anything, do you understand? You will never summon me! And if I decide to meet the sun, you will let me. Is that clear?

Tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was so angry I thought I would explode.

I slumped onto the couch and started sobbing uncontrollably. Godric and Eric just watched me cautiously, not wanting to upset me more by coming closer but not wanting to leave me alone either. They sent me calm through the bond, but I blocked it. If I was going to feel better it was by dealing with and accepting my emotions, not be by having them manipulated by the two of them.

By the time I could feel dawn approaching I had calmed down a bit though I still felt incredibly lost and angry.

Godric approached me carefully, like you would a frightened animal. "Sweetheart, we will die for the day soon. I know we are the last people you want to be with, but our room is light-proof. You have to stay with us."

I was so emotionally spent by then that I didn't argue. "Fine, but you will not touch me. Tomorrow you take me home and once I get to Bon Temps I don't want to see either of you ever again."

I laid down in the middle of the bed making sure that I took up as much space as I could so that they'd be as uncomfortable as possible. It was petulant and childish, and it made me feel a tiny bit better.

Then I waited to become dead for the day. Eric was out first, becoming absolutely still and lifeless. About 20 minutes later the same thing happened with Godric.

Me, I lay there restless and tired, but I couldn't sleep. This had happened before of course, me laying awake long after Godric and Eric were out, but that was while I was human. I was a newborn vampire, shouldn't I have been dead for the day before my two ancient makers?

Well, apparently not. I got out of bed, got a Tru Blood out of the small fridge and heated it in the microwave. I sat down on the couch and watched them while I sipped my Blood. It occurred to me that I could easily stake them, but as mad as I had been at them in the past few hours I knew that was the last thing I wanted. Even though I was still angry I was slowly coming to terms with reality, which was that I was a vampire and Godric and Eric had saved me. They had had no choice but to be pawns in Appius' crazy vendetta against me and it was not their fault that things turned out as they did. My anger, as understandable as it was, was completely misdirected.

I read the complimentary magazine for a while then I decided to go back to bed and try to sleep. I tossed and turned before I finally fell asleep. It wasn't exactly a restful sleep. I had strange dreams and woke up several times.

I finally decided that I might as well get up and take a shower. It was still light out and sunset seemed hours away. This was very strange. I was a vampire, there was no question about that. But my body didn't seem to have gotten the message and was acting like I was still human. Well, at least when it came to sleeping. I didn't have to go the bathroom anymore and I gulped down Tru Bloods like they were Ginger Ales. I also had sharp little fangs to prove the whole vampire thing.

But it seemed that I hadn't quite gotten the vampire sleeping schedule down. Well, I was a baby vampire. Maybe they were like human babies in that it took a while before they would sleep through the night? Or in my case, the day? I laughed to myself at the absurd thought and got in the shower. There were so many overwhelming things to deal with being a newborn vampire, I just couldn't worry about them all. I would ask Godric and Eric when they got up, they would probably know what was going on.

Not that I owe anyone an explanation, but to put Chapter 24 in context, when I first started writing, it was a story of Sookie as a vampire in a relationship with Godric and Eric. When I realized that flashbacks were not enough to tell the back-story, I started writing a separate fic with everything that happened before she was turned and that is Never Let Me Go. I chose the title because everything was meant to lead up to her dying and being turned. I didn't intend for the story to be this long or take this long to write for that matter. I was originally thinking around 8-10 chapters leading up to her death and then to finish the vampire Sookie story. But then Never Let Me Go took on a life of its own and became the main story I worked on and I stopped writing the story of Sookie's life as a vampire. Part of the epilogue was originally the first chapter of the other story, which is why it is open-ended. I might finish that story at some point, but right now I think I've had my fill of writing fanfic for a while.