Chapter 25

The sun was still up when we left the cabin we did get to town just a little early the sun was still up we couldn't go to the hotel and wait since many knew that Eric was a vampire we couldn't very well explain it away. Neither of us felt like doing much of anything both of us anxious to get home and start searching for Pam. Normally it would have been a perfect opportunity to site see and enjoy the daylight hours but instead we just drove around until we found a park not too far from the hotel. It was a good opportunity to let Sonny run off some energy before the long plane trip. He ran around and greeted the other people at the park we played fetch with him and he caught scent of a critter and tracked it for a while. The sun felt good even though it was very cold Eric wasn't focusing, I had to remind him to put on his coat it was important for him to look as normal as possible. I suppose with the color he had from his days in the sun, more color than when he is just feeding from me he is still a pale but he could pass for an actual Sweed that wasn't in the sun much. As the sun began to set the stadium lights illuminated the park so we continued to let Sonny run and play until the sun had been down about 20 minutes. The hotel was about 10 minutes away. That seemed like fair timing.

When we arrived at the hotel Bill and Savannah were in the lobby and had already put their luggage in their rental car. They followed us to the airport both our vehicles were rented from the same place so that saved time. The shuttle took us straight to our plane. I was pleased to see that Lacey was our flight attendant again. I boarded first and she smiled and greeted me. We all settled into seats since it would still be dark for the boys just a little longer they decided not to get in their coffins yet, they had about 45 minutes before they would need to crawl in. I knew that Eric would probably not sleep and it would be almost torture lying in the coffin but he couldn't very well set up in the daylight with all these witnesses. I scanned the plane pilot human; co-pilot shifter of course I already knew that Lacey was a shifter.

Eric sat looking over the list of vampires that had come into Louisiana in the last several weeks. He didn't discount anyone but he too wondered about Crews Dimitriadis. Lacey stayed to herself checking on us before we took off and soon after. The boys both drank a True Blood and discussed the recent arrival of some of the vampires on the list. I relaxed shut my eyes and searched as we flew hoping to maybe make a connection with Pam. After only a few minutes of this I was actually feeling ill. I opened my eyes and took a drink of water. Eric asked if I was ok and I lied telling him telling him I was fine. He knew that wasn't the complete truth but he let it go. It was time for the guys to get into the coffins, Eric looked into my eyes connecting with me Let me know if you hear anything. Be sure if you do that you find out exactly where we are from the pilots. I shook my head and he kissed me sweetly and went to the back of the plane. Bill looked a little uncomfortable for a moment then he gave Savannah a quick kiss on the lips and followed Eric.

After they were secure Lacey came back to the front of the plane, I smiled at her, "Come up here and sit with us." She did without hesitation. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine, thanks. I saw you on the charter and I traded for your flight." She smiled a little nervous.

"I'm so glad you did. I was relieved when I saw it was you on the plane. Oh my, I'm being rude. Lacey this is Savannah." They greeted each other. We talked for a while and then she had to check on the pilots. She had to make some food for them which gave me a chance to talk to Savannah.

"So you and Bill, that's nice, how long?" I just cut to the chase, I wanted to know and I could either ask or look in her mind, I decided to see how she reacted to me being blunt.

"Yes, it kind of took us both by surprise. We dated a couple of times before he left for where ever he went before the elections and a couple of weeks ago I asked him out but he had some business to do and I went with him, we were shopping for an office for him, he offered me a job as Office Manager. That night when he took me home I gave him a kiss to thank him for dinner and the job, I really only meant for it to be a friendly peck but sparks flew and we fought it a little; we just very recently decided to give a relationship a try."

She wasn't holding back I was a little shocked we weren't exactly friends we just worked together at Fangtasia. "That's great. I hope things work out for the two of you. You two look good together."

"Thanks Sookie that means a lot to me. I know that there is absolutely nothing between you and Bill other than friendship, but I know y'all used to date, I really appreciate your support of our relationship."

"I only want Bill to be happy. I think it will be easier for us to be friends if he has someone else in his life. That's what I've wanted for a long time, to be his friend."

"Can I ask you something personal?" She leaned across the isle of the isle; I mimicked her nodding my head. "Is there a way to get the bite marks to fade more quickly? Yesterday was the first time I had ever been with a vampire and I don't want to have to always hide my neck."

I leaned back and smiled, "You can start by asking him not to bite you on your neck but it is his preferred place, if you don't mind it then at some point after he feeds get him to bite himself and drop the blood onto your wound it will heal in a matter of no time."

"Thanks. I don't know anyone else that dates vampires, I never intended to myself but I have to say this to someone, the sex was out of this world, oh my gosh! I don't know if I'll ever want to be with a human again." My turn to smile a little uncomfortably. "Have I stepped over the bounds of a new friendship? I'm sorry I tend to be really open."

"No, it's fine. I just don't have the ability to compare humans to vampires in that capacity, I have never had a relationship with a human; vampire and shifter but never human."

"Trust me you're not missing a thing."

Lacey sat back next to me, "Speaking of shifter boyfriends don't forget about me." She smiled and winked.

"I won't forget you. We have a bit of a family emergency that's why we are coming back early but I won't forget you, I'll get you in touch with Quinn just as soon as I can." I patted her hand.

"Wait," Savannah blurted, "You dated Quinn?"

"You know Quinn?" I was surprised.

"Yeah, when I first started at Fangtasia I was only working a few hours a week and someone put me in touch with a company that worked supe catering events, something happened and Quinn was short a couple of his regular staff and I went to one of his events to serve human drinks, I had to drive to New Orleans, but it was great pay. Sookie, Quinn is well, WOW. Not that Eric's not, you have very good taste in men, I'll just say that."

"Thanks. I can't even begin to tell you how my life has changed since I started getting involved with the supernatural world, so just watch yourself. I don't regret much of it and I wouldn't change what I have with Eric for the world, but it's been a long road. Just take is slow Savannah and be careful. You're all human, right? No supe blood or special abilities?"

"Nope, I am all human. Aren't you?"

"Technically yes, I am human. But I have a gift. It's what brought me into the supe world to begin with."

"May I ask what it is?"

"I'm telepathic." She didn't say anything aloud but she thought you can read my mind? "Yes I can but I can shut it all out when I want or need to. Some things come to me in images instead of words but the results are the same." Sonny walked up to Lacey and laid his head in her lap. I reached over and scratched between his ears. She looked a little nervous. "He won't hurt you but he's curious he knows you're different he just doesn't know how." I put my hand flat between his ears and showed him a mental image of what it would be like to see her shifting. He lifted his head and looked at me and whined and sniffed her and then lay back down at my feet.

"How did you end up bringing a dog back from Alaska?" Lacey asked. I told them the story of finding Sonny, leaving out that it was daylight and that Eric gave him blood. We chit chatted about a variety of other things we didn't let Lacey to wait on us; we went to the kitchen and got what we needed when we wanted it. She just made sure to check on the pilots ever 30 minutes. Girl talk really helped the time pass and it seemed like no time before we started our decent. As we were turning over to head inland, we had been flying straight down the Pacific Coast, I got a feeling. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I felt like I was being submerged in water. "Lacey I need to know where we are right now, ask the pilot I need to know exactly." She went and asked and brought me back a paper with latitude and longitude. I suppose we couldn't get any more specific.