A/N - SVM Characters belong to Mrs. Harris, original characters and storyline are mine. I really appreciate the reviews and feedback, it let's me know if I've drawn you into my version of the SVM world and if you have enjoyed your stay.

Chapter 25 - Family

Scene 1 - SPOV - 'Fire Engine Read'

I found the legal papers sitting on the coffee table in our living area when I rose the night after the witches' demise. There was a cardboard box that I had requested from storage sitting on the floor next to the table. Eric had already risen, and I presumed that he had visited a donor before heading to his office or the Hall to deal with the evenings politics. I was hungry myself, and more than a bit sore, as much as I'd rather feed from Eric, he needed his blood to heal just as much as I. I was also expecting Hunter to arrive tonight, and the last thing I needed to be was hungry around a human.

I called down to the donor barracks and asked for James, a college student that was donating to raise funds for his classes. He was a nice young man that did absolutely nothing for my libido. He had shown a fascination for cooking, so I had set him up to work with Rupert for extra money. While Eric and I preferred each other thanks to my bit of blood magic, we both knew that there would be times when we would have to feed from others. Those times might arise because of political necessity or because one of us was out of the area for a period of time, or like now, because of injuries. Pam had a good old time laughing at us while Eric and I had gone through the 'donor stable' choosing the donors we felt comfortable with for each other. I of course, still get my own giggle from the way the humans that used to avoid me all but begged at my feet for attention.

Feeling more like myself after James left, I sat down on the couch with my cell phone. I saw that Eric had left me a text confirming that Hunter was en-route from New Orleans and that my old suite of rooms in the rotunda had been prepared for him. Claudine had agreed to stay with him during the day; I blessed Niall for his anti-scent talismans, at least for the other vampires. We had tested my reaction to my fairy family shortly after I had come home; to me their blood was just blood. We were hoping that the fairies natural ability to seduce their prey by exuding comfort and safety would help Hunter relax and feel safe here.

I finished answering my email and text messages then picked up the first set of legal documents from Mr. Cataliades, they were revisions to my original contract with Eric. I read through the amendments that took into account my new vampire status and initialed where needed, with that out of the way I started to peruse the other pile of paperwork.

I was impressed, between Niall and Eric's extensive contacts and some of Hadley's items that had been recovered from my home in Bon Temps and the former Palace in New Orleans; they had managed to create a paper trail that proved beyond a doubt that I had a legal claim as guardian for Hunter. There was a letter from Hadley to my Gran, a year or so after she first became involved with the Queen where she tells Gran that she had a three year old son and how she regretted telling Sophie-Anne about me once she realized her son suffered from the same disability. She had never mailed the letter; if she had I may have avoided the entire heart ache that had followed, since Gran would have been warned that there was trouble. She might have contacted Fintan to assist us.

The American Government held the most important document though, and it took a bit of fairy magic with vampire ingenuity to get a copy of it. It was Hadley's last will and testament, naming myself and Jason as Hunter's co guardians if she died, along with setting up a trust fund in his name that she funded with her allowance from Sophie-Anne. If Remy had a will, it had yet to be found. Eric was positive that the government did not have it; otherwise he was sure it would have been included in the other encrypted documents.

With paperwork in hand it was Mr. Cataliades turn to work his legal magic, and work it he did. He had come up with an iron clad guardianship that not even the American legal system was going to be able to break. He took advantage of some archaic vampire laws about human pets along with some high profile human custody cases then wrapped it all up in a pretty package by introducing vampire legislation to protect new vampires from arbitrarily losing their human children after they are turned. I guess with all the new vampires, there had been some nasty situations where families had been ripped apart even though the new vampire parent could show the control necessary to remain involved with their family.

All I had to do was sign and initial a few pages include copies of my old birth certificate along with my new vampire registration, and Hunter becomes an official member of the Northman family. I finished up all my scribbling and sealed the documents in an envelope, called down for the compound courier and had everything sent off to Mr. Cataliades ASAP, with a very large bonus included.

The Northman Family. I liked the sound of that. I hadn't said anything to Eric yet, about how I felt taking his name, but I was sure he could feel the pride and excitement which would run through me during the occasions we discussed our pledging. We agreed to let Pam and Quinn do all the planning and I was a bit nervous over what those two could come up with. Hunter would continue the Stackhouse/Brigant family blood line if he chose to have children. I hoped that I would be able to help him achieve a long and happy human life time, but if he decided in the future to become vampire, I would not stand in his way.

My phone rang, it was Thalia, she had arrived with Hunter. I grabbed the cardboard box and headed for his rooms.

When Thalia let me in I thanked her for help and surprised her with a hug. I know she wasn't a touchy feely vampire, but without her unusual gifts and skill set, I didn't think I would have my cousin here. Hunter would have an escort whenever he left his rooms, Claudine and a security force during the day. At night it would be me or Eric, if we were not available Charles or Clancy would be responsible for him.

I was left alone with a magically induced sleeping Hunter. I set my box on the floor next to his bed and explored the rest of the suite admiring Pam's decorating skills. The rooms were masculine, with slightly heavier furniture and a color palette in desert tones accented with navy and crimson. There was a huge entertainment system hosting what had to be every gaming console known, not to mention a CD and DVD collection that might rival even Eric's. There was also a bookcase full of text books covering just about every subject at the high school and college level; it brought home schooling to a whole new plateau.

I took an unneeded breath and returned to Hunter's side. I pushed his shaggy hair out of his eyes, then bent and pressed my lips to his. I whispered his name and the magic I had given Thalia to use returned to me, releasing him from his slumber and restoring a bit of my energy. It would still be a few days before my magic would be back to its normal levels.

I pulled a chair over to the bed, making sure I gave him plenty of personal space and waited for him to rouse. Quinn had removed the iron in New Orleans, but I could see the raw areas that had been left behind, already tended by one of the compound doctors. I wondered how much of the oil remained which Eric had used on my scars, if Hunter refused to take blood from me; we would have to mark him as ours some other way. I was pulled from my down time when his eyes snapped open and he scrambled to the far side of bed away from me.

"Where am I, who the hell are you?" he asked. I could feel him probing at my shields and smiled. I was curious to see if he could read vampires, so I lowered my shields and allowed the answer to float in my head.

I am your cousin Sookie.

His eyes remained blank, but a frown settled between his eyebrows, "I cannot hear you, just like the other one. She said she was a vampire, does that mean you are too?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't read us, that would make it easier to keep him safe, but could he hear me if I projected at him?

Can you hear me now? I sent to him.

His eyes opened wide and I could feel him try to shield from me. His shields were weak, rudimentary. Apparently the government didn't have anyone who was able to train him, instead keeping him docile with drugs.

"What are you, get out of my head!" he screamed.

I left his thoughts and told him the truth, "I am a vampire, but I am just like you, a telepath. We are alike you and I, and I hope you will allow me to help you."

I probed at him delicately, he was still fearful but curiosity was coming to the fore, I allowed him time to answer and sifted through his thoughts.

She is a telepath, how can that be? They told me I was special, one of a kind. Are there more of us? Should I ask?

He kept an eye on me while looking over his surroundings.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You are in Louisiana, Shreveport to be more exact. This is my home, a plantation called Gudrun. You have your own rooms here, everything you find here is for your use. Feel free to ask me anything. I promise to answer all of your questions that I can. I've met only one other telepath other than you, his name is Barry and he lives in Texas. He works for the vampire king there. I can tell you this though; one of the reasons that you are a telepath is because of your family." I answered his questions, vocal as well as the ones in his head.

"Ok, so you've proven you can read my mind even though I cannot read yours, will you please stop doing that?" he asked.

"I'll give you privacy Hunter."

"You know my family? How can you, they are dead?"

"You mother Hadley was my cousin, which makes you my second cousin. Telepathy among other things is in our blood."

His eyes brightened, "You knew my mom?"

My smile was sad when I answered, "When we were kids, we used to play together. She knew about my little disability," his eyes reflected his confusion at my words, "I thought of my telepathy as a disability when I was human, I had a hard time keeping other peoples thoughts out of my head. People thought I was crazy."

He nodded, "Ya I remember it being really hard when I was little, and then dad died and those people came and took me away," he started to shake and I could feel the fear and anger start to fill his mind. "They made me do bad things, see nasty thoughts. I couldn't stop it; sometimes I couldn't pull myself away, out of the heads. That is when they would give me something nasty to drink. It would make me feel all fuzzy and floaty."

I was happy that he was volunteering information, "Hunter would you let me see what they did to you, in your mind?"

He shook his head violently, "I don't want to remember that."

I used a bit of persuasion, "I can keep you from reliving it; I can block you from it, but for me to help you I need to know how much damage has been done."

"How can you help me?" he asked.

"I can teach you how to shield your mind. How to keep all the voices out. I can teach you how to use your talents without hurting yourself. But I won't force you to do anything you do not want to. If all you want to learn is too keep other people out, that will be fine with me," I reassured him.

"Why would you do that? You don't want to use me like all the others?" He was still suspicious. I really couldn't blame the kid, he had been through a lot and I was really just another stranger.

"Like I said, you are family, and family helps each other. I will promise you no one here wants to hurt you. You see this box next to me?" I asked, waiting until he nodded. "I had this in storage; there are a lot of things in here from when I was human, including books of family photos. Do you want to see them?"

"Ok"

We spent the next hour going through the family photo albums. I could see him finally relaxing and slowly he began to trust me. He laughed when he saw the pictures of me and a teenage Hadley with her black Gothic hair and my crazy smile. He asked about Jason and Gran and he looked at me sadly when I told him that they had died too.

"So you were all alone just like me."

"For a long time, yes I was and it was hard and hurt so much, but now I have a new family. Eric, Pam and Claudine, you will meet them later. Eric and Pam are vampires. Eric helped me like I will help you. When I was human, he took me away from some bad people like we did you. He helped me learn how to control all my power; I hope you will like him. Claudine is a fairy, you will meet her tomorrow."

His eyes got real big when I mentioned fairies, "She's not like in the books. She is my fairy godmother, actually really my aunt. You and I have a bit of fairy blood too. See?"

I tucked my hair behind one of my ears to let him see that it was pointy.

He watched me with a child's curiosity, "Are we telepaths because we are fairy?"

"No, I don't really know where that comes from, but fairies can do magic," I let a bit of power flicker over my fingers, my skin glowing. Then I called up a wisp to dance around his head until he was batting at it and giggling.

"Will I be able to do that?" he asked.

I shrugged, "I do not know, maybe. We will not know until you are much older, closer to your thirties. That is about the age fairies are considered adults."

"Wow"

"How come you are a vampire now?" he asked.

"Some bad people took me away from Eric and hurt me and made me a vampire, but he got me back."

"Are you happy to still be alive? Wouldn't you rather be in heaven with your family?"

"That is an odd question Hunter, why would I not want to still be here, walking and talking with you?" I asked.

"I thought about it a lot, when the other guys had me. If I was dead, they couldn't hurt me anymore, and I would see Mom and Dad again. We would be together," he told me earnestly, tears building in his eyes.

I couldn't help myself. I crawled into the bed and pulled him in my arms, cradling him just like Eric would cradle me. Hunter was stiff at first, but I just shifted him closer, using my vampire strength to support his much larger frame. I rocked him, humming an old lullaby, vampire tears streaking my face.

"Shh...Little one, everything will be all right now," I crooned to him.

He pulled away from me with a laugh, rubbing at the tears on his face. "I am bigger than you, who are you to call me little."

I grinned and poked him in the chest, "you are little to me, see?" I picked him up and placed him back in the bed beside me, then flashed back to my chair, grabbing a box of tissue on the way. I tossed a handful to him then started to scrub the bloody streaks from my face.

"How come you are bleeding?" he asked, after wiping his eyes and blowing his nose.

"That's what happens when I cry, my tears are blood."

"Ewe, gross."

"Ya, it can be," I said, then answered his earlier question. "Yes Hunter, I am happy to be here alive in an undead way. I miss the sun and I miss fried chicken, but I wouldn't give up everything else I have for anything. I want you to understand though; when I was human a lot of people hurt me, especially vampires. Just like humans, not all vampires are good guys."

"But you are, and Eric and Pam and the others?"

"Yes, but I do not want you to take my word for it. I hope you will come to understand that on your own. I will make you a deal though. If I show you some of what happened to me, would you let me see what happened to you?"

He nodded slowly.

"Ok, first though I am going to show you a bit of magic. Don't be scared now, I am just going to show you what I looked like as a human, ok?"

"Ok."

I concentrated a moment and allowed the Telepath to emerge. He would need to see the scars up close and personal, instead of in my head. I did not want to show him Andre carving me up.

"Neat, what else can you do?"

I couldn't resist and flashed through the other aspects, showing him the beast and the fairy before returning to normal, a bit tired from the exertion. It would take me a couple more days to recharge my batteries after tonight's show and tell.

"That was so cool, was all of that you?" he asked.

"Ya, but it's a long long story. I'll tell you more some other night. You saw the scars on the first one though right?"

"Ya, they were pretty but also ugly too, that must have hurt."

"It did, I am going to show you some of what happened, but not all of it ok? I don't want to give you nightmares."

"Go ahead and do it, I won't be scared."

I gently pushed into his mind and sent a small slide show. I showed him Gran and Jason, Sam and Tara. I showed him how hard it was for me growing up, and how nice it felt when I met Bill and his quiet mind. I let him glimpse Eric on his throne. Then I showed him the first time I had met the Queen and Bill's betrayal. I glossed over the most graphic parts, but allowed him to see me in chains and doing what the Queen or Andre told me too. I showed him what Eric looked like when he rescued me, then all the good times over the last few months. I let him watch me enthralling the vermin and could feel his curiosity when I showed him Pam and the others. When I was through I gently pulled back from him and let him sit in silence.

"Aunt Sookie," I blinked back tears at the endearment. "You can read my mind now, I will show you," he said.

I dropped back into his thoughts and fought to keep myself from pulling him back in my arms. I could feel Eric pushing calm and concern through our bond when he felt my emotions rocketing all over. I sent love back to him mixed with a bit of sadness, and tried to bring my emotions under control. Oh but it was so difficult after seeing all what this child had been through.

I truly believe he would not have been shocked if he had seen the more graphic side of my life, for what the humans had done to him was in many ways so much worse. He had been placed among criminal minds and forced to read their every thought. He had to relive murders and rapes, arson and torture. He saw the results of war and the darker aspects of physical love. He had been drugged, abused and experimented upon, all before the age of seventeen. Our blood proved true though, he had survived as I had survived with most of his mind intact. I could sense the hidden areas though, places that he locked away from even himself. Those hidden places where the rage and the pain and the hate boiled. I would ask Eric to help Hunter tap those emotions as he had taught me, before they could cause a division in Hunter's psyche.

"Oh Hunter, I am so sorry. I wish I had been there for you." I whispered when I was through.

"I have you now though right? You will help me and teach me?" he asked.

I explained what we planned for him. Explaining his schedule and the general layout of the compound. He groaned when I told him about having a tutor so that he would be able to graduate in a couple of years. He was worried he would not be smart enough; his education had been random and pretty generic. While we were speaking, he was digging through the box, pulling out and paging through the photos and reading some of the cards and letters. There were a few old toys on the bottom. One of my favorite old dolls, some army men of Jason's and an old fire truck that I thought had been Jason's too.

Hunter lifted the fire truck from the box and held it in his hands; tears started pouring from his eyes as he turned to look at me.

"It's really true, you are my family. I remember this. I used to play with it all the time at Mom's house, it was my favorite."

"Yes Hunter, this is real. You are safe now, with your family."

We talked for a few more hours. I could see that he was getting tired, but he wouldn't let me leave. I told him I had one more thing to ask of him, and explained about taking some of my blood. How it would help me find him if something would ever happen. I explained that it would also heal him, and he would be stronger for a while, he would feel better. Since he was old enough to understand the birds and the bees, especially after what he had experienced, I also told him that if he took blood from another vampire he might feel sexual things so he had to be careful. I told him that because of my magic that wouldn't happen with me, I could change my blood to stop it.

He thought about it and agreed, he was scared that someone would take him away again and he wanted me to be able to find him. He watched in fascination when I bit my wrist and let the blood drip into a cup that I got from the bathroom. I handed it to him and he drank it all down in one shot. I thought for just a moment it would all come back up, but he swallowed hard and smiled.

"That tasted weird Aunt Sookie, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, so can you feel me now?"

I could feel him the moment my blood touched his tongue and was slightly awed myself. Was this a small portion of how I felt to Eric? My blood was young and definitely not as strong as his. He would have only needed a drop or two. I could feel my blood traveling through Hunter healing the hurts and making itself at home. He became a light buzz at the back of mind, sitting in the shadow of the blazing light that was Eric.

"Yes, I can feel your excitement, just like I see it on your face and in your head. Like you said, it is 'neat'," I wryly grinned at him, "This is new to me too; I haven't given anyone my blood before."

My cell phone buzzed, announcing a text message from Eric.

He took your blood, lover? I can feel him through you.

Yes he did, I will show you everything he told me later, love you.

I snapped the phone back shut and answered the question I could see in Hunter's mind, "That was Eric; he can feel you too, through me, so it worked. Now it's time for you to get some sleep, it is really late. Do you want anything to eat, are you hungry?"

He was, so I fixed him a sandwich and found a stash of cookies. He asked me about my fangs, how I controlled them and if I had to sleep in a coffin. I answered his questions, laughing with him at some of them, and then tucked him back in bed like the child he had never had a chance to be. I told him Claudine would be there for him in the morning, and I would not see him until sunrise. I asked him if he remembered what I showed him Eric looked like, and he said yes. I told him Eric might stop in to see him before I did; since he was so much older he got up first.

His eyes were growing heavy, so I leaned over to brush his hair back and placed a kiss on his forehead, "Welcome home Hunter, we love you."

He closed his eyes and smiled, answering me in his head.

Good night Aunt Sookie, I think I am going to love you too.

I was wiping tears away when I ran into Eric in the hallway just outside of the Library. He gathered me close and held me tight, offering me comfort and his love.

"We will keep him safe, lover. I will kill anyone who tries to take him from you."

"I know Eric, that's why I love you."

He smiled down at me and waggled his eyebrows, "Are you sure that is the only reason?"

"Oh I don't know, how about you show me all of my options?" I laughed, he allowed me to drag him back to our rooms where we made love until dawn pulled me under. He made sure I was absolutely certain just how much he loved me.