I own Anya. Nothing else. I know, I know, it's been awhile. But, I'm back and ready for anything. I hope. Questions, comments, and concerns are always welcome!

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Eric's mood took a rapid downfall after his disgusting innuendo; he became abruptly serious for the situation at hand. Tensing up, his icy eyes darted from my beat red expression to the rest of the room.

"So," he started, running a hand through his oddly short hair, as if unused to the idea, "Plans to save Godric start now." He glanced around, taking in everyone's blank stares, frowning a bit, "Any ideas?"

I remained quiet. This wasn't the time to berate Eskimo for his crudeness. That would come...later.

But, hey, it WOULD come. Heck yes, it will.

The tall Swede gritted his teeth at the silence, "ANYthing?"

Stan was the first to speak, with an arrogant look on his face, of course, "This Fellowship of the Sun... We should anihilate them all; kill every last one of the little suckers. Godric saved, no bad press anymore, problem solved. Done."

Eyes glinting, Isabel hissed at her companion, "Oh, and who would the press blame? A total anti-vampire establishment eliminated in the night- hm, I wonder who it could've been?"

"They deserve to die! They should be honored that it'd be by me, personally!"

"Don't be absurd, Stanley, you would say that to a grasshopper."

Stan roared, his black hat tilting up from his agitation, "That freaking Fellowship has made our lives unreasonable, making us explain our every action! The Great Revelation never should have happened! We aren't slaves to the media!"

"You know," I chimed in, musing a bit, "You can't technically have a life, since you're dead, I mean, undead, so..."

"Shut up," the cowboy clicked out his fangs, baring them at me, "Speak again, little human, and I might rip your throat out."

Eric flashed over to my side, thoughtfully (did I say thoughtfully?) ensuring my safety from the raging Stan. "Idiots," he spat, his fangs revealing themselves as well, "I don't even see how you came to be Godric's lieutenants, when you can't get anything done!"

By this time, Eskimo was furious, for reasons unknown to everyone else, except me, I guess. I knew that Godric was his maker, and that this was pretty personal for him.

Bill and Sookie, well, they were clueless to this fact. Stan and Isabel...I dunno. Maybe.

Isabel looked affronted at his remark, crossing her black jacketed covered arms, "We invited you as a curtesy, Eric, but in this issue, you legally no say."

Okay... I guess those two vamps were in the know. Cool. I feel...in the loop.

Still baring his fangs, Eskimo began to pace erratically, silently and unfortunately acknowledging his place, "Idiots."

"I could infiltrate the Fellowship," Sookie's voice rang out like a bell in the room, "See what they're up to, and, if they're keeping Godric somewhere."

Eric looked up with a desperate hope in his eyes, slightly hidden. I could tell, though, pshah, I could SO see it.

"No," Bill gazed down at his lover, disturbed, "No, Sookie, it's too dangerous."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Bill Compton. It's my life, and I can do whatever I want with it." This was Sook's only response, a pretty fiesty one at that.

Yay Sookie! She has a backbone! A vertebrae, hooray!

I'm so proud.

"But they attacked us," I recalled, furrowing my brow, "So shouldn't they recognize you?"

Smiling, Sook raised an eybrow at my comment, "But didn't we deal with the kidnapper ourselves? No one knows what I look like, just what my name is. I'll go under an alias, and it'll be fine."

"Fine," I agreed, crossing my arms, "But I'm going with you."

"What? No."

"Uhhh, yes."

"No, Anya Elise, you are NOT going. You could be killed."

"And so could you!" I shot back, "Hey, I was the one who dealt with the kidnapper today; I can handle myself!"

"Well, I can read minds, so I KNOW I can handle myself! But that doesn't mean that I'll just let you walk into danger."

"Like you are?"

"That's different."

"No, it's not, you hypocrite! It's no different from a mongoose and a meerkat!"

"What?"

"Exactly."

"Enough," Eskimo butted into our elaborate conversation, his blond hair glinting in the florescent lights, "Can you do it?"

I smirked, puffing out my chest a bit, "Me? Hell yes."

He narrowed his eyes, "I wasn't talking to you, Sparrow." He then turned to Sookie, his apparently orignial topic, staring at her evenly, not even needing to repeat the question.

"I can do it," she responded levelly, flicking a piece of her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"And I'm going with you," I added in, praying she wouldn't start that whole argument over again. I closed my eyes, waiting for it, the trigger.

"Why." It was more of a statement than a question, and surprisingly enough, it did not come from Sookie.

Eskimo...

He leaned back on a chair, staring me down, "Why should you go? Tell me one thing you could contribute."

I blinked, scratching the back of my head awkwardly, "Uhhh...well..."

Sardonically, he smirked, confident I had nothing to say, "Yes?"

"I..." I stumbled for words, surely I could do SOMETHING, "uhh, ahhh, AHA!" I burst out, happy that I wasn't entirely useless, "Protection! I could protect her from all those Fellows of the Sun, and do some ninja moves if they get close or find out we're incognito..."

I endly softly, wanting to facepalm myself. Well. That sounded slightly stupid. Might have to re-evaluate my IQ.

"She could go with my human, Hugo," Isabel added, then giving Eric a glance, "Your human, I mean. All three of them could pose as a family wanting to join the church."

Eric paused for a second, thinking of the pros and cons, giving me a long, steady look, "Excellent. It'll do."

"This is all crap!" Stan exclaimed, storming out of the room, "Mark my words, you'll wish you would've killed them."

A silence filled the conference room, each of us thinking about The Plan.

It's official. I feel like a secret agent. Wonder if all the CIA people feel this way...

"Errr," I cleared my throat, pursing my lips in the process, "Not to burst anyone's bubble, but I can't exactly pass as Sookie's...daughter."

Lips twitching, Eskimo rolled his eyes, "You would stay in the role of a cousin, obviously."

"Hey, it's not THAT obvious!" I retorted, kind of feeling stupid again for not seeing it.

"Seeing as Miss Stackhouse would've had to have gotten pregnant at the age of seven, I should say that it is."

"Technically, it's possible," I raised a brow, "Have you SEEN all those Maury shows?"

He raised his own brow at my brow, "And do you know the purpose of puberty?"

"Sure I do. It's that awkward birds and bees talk that no one actually wants to have. Been there, done that."

"And obviously, did not pay attention."

"Did too. I'm a girl, I pay attention."

"And you're saying that the male species fails to pay attention? That we're incompetent?"

"Well, more like ADD, but...yeah."

"Interesting," Eskimo muttered, smirking sarcatically all the while, "I'll have to add that to list. Sexist."

"Hey, that's NOT what I meant!"

"I suggest you don't worry," he gave me a smoldering look from underneath his lids,"But you can if you want to, because it's amusing. Regardless, I will change those views."

I gave him a sketchy look, backing away slowly, "Surrrre."

He flashed over behind me, leaning down to whisper in my ear. His breath kind of tickled, and I could hear the growing smirk on his face, "You can count on it."

I shivered, to which he grinned in response. Ugh...why did I have to meet this vampire in the first place?/!

"And remember," he continued, breathing on purpose to make me squirm, "You're mine."

I froze for a second, then whirled around, facing him square on. "Oh no, you didn't!" I ennunciated like the gangsta I was.

I know, I know. No more gangsta, I mean, gangster talk for moi. No more. No...more.

And then I slapped him. Or at least tried to.

He didn't let me hit him like last time, the big meanie; he stepped back just before my hand whooshed through the air where his face was a second before, making me feel like a...fool.

Darn.

He chuckled (does he have mood swings or what?), "Nice try, but no cigar." He wriggled his eyebrows, "Want to try again?"

Sookie and Bill cleared their throats simeltaneously, letting us know that the were STILL there, watching our strange little exchange.

Sook gave me a weird, worried smile, "We're gonna just head back to the room, An, so whenever you're ready..." She trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

"No need," I kept my glare on Eric who consistently gave me a patronizing look right back, "I'm ready now."

God, yes, I was ready.

Plus, I needed time to think out my revenge on Eskimo.

Scheming time enacted, starting...now.