Here's a new chapter, which I had a great time writing. I hope you'll enjoy reading it. And I'll start with next chapter later today because I'm really looking forward to the moment when Sookie will meet Natércia! :) Oh, an Natércia is my grandmother's name - she raised me since I was 11, so this is my little homage to her. But my Gran is a lovely person, and not at all like this Nat. Anyway, have a nice weekend, Célia

Sookie "Little Bit of Soul"

Until 12 years ago my life was absolutely boring. I worked most days; I had a couple of close friends (basically my boss Sam and my co-worker Arlene) and a few less-close friends (former colleagues from high-school, like Tara and JB); I lived with my Grandmother; I saw my brother have girlfriend after girlfriend (while I kept not-dating); and I sunbathed. But that was it.

Yes, sure, the vampires were already "out of the coffin" (and that had been a big wow! for me… well, for everyone really) but I was still your typical small town (in Louisiana!) waitress. Yeah, okay, so I could read minds... But believe me: even with that "twist", my life was still pretty boring. I guess the minds I read were boring as well…

But then I met Mr. William Compton; or Bill, for short. He was my new neighbor and he was an instant hit for me because I couldn't read his thoughts. And that little detail, not listening to his mind, made me very happy. Now, in retrospective, I wish I had read his thoughts at the time… It might have saved me a ton of trouble. Anyway, eventually Bill took me to Fangtasia (I had foolishly asked him that) and he introduced me to Pam and Eric. And meeting those three was the same as opening a door to a whole new world. A whole new crazy world.

And why? Because, from then on, everything started happening... And I really mean everything. First, I discovered that there were people out there that could shift their bodies like any animal they want; as in really change their body to the body of an animal. And that my boss was a shifter. And soon later, I met more vampires. And then I met a few weres – as in real were-wolves and also a were-tiger. Yes, I really said were-tiger. There were were-tigers out there. And even fairies. I discovered that fairies truly, really existed. Not your typical Tinkerbell, obviously, but some other sort of fairies did exist. So, wow!

But things didn't stop there, because eventually, I was shipped to Dallas and more things happened there too, including my first taste of Eric's blood while I was... well… sucking a bullet out of him. Jesus! I still don't know how I fell for that! Anyway, soon after that, Eric was shipped too. But he was shipped to my house. And I quickly fell in love with his sweet side. But then, he vanished, as well as his sweet side. And he even stopped answering my phone calls. And suddenly there was the blood bond and my (kind of) marriage. And all that happened in more or less two years. Two years! And don't even get me talking about Rene Lenier and Sweetie Des Arts' killing sprees. Oh, and there was Tara's Mickey too. Wow! Indeed.

And my life had in fact been in peril so damn many times I had even lost count; since that first night when I had been attacked by a couple of Trailer Trash because I had defended Bill from them the previous night, up until that last night at Gran's when Victor did De Castro's bidding and managed to get Eric's allegiance... by force. And in the meantime, let's not forget, I had also been staked in Jackson (yes, me, a human among vampires had been staked). And there had also been the bombs in Rhodes, we mustn't forget that too. Not that holding in your own hands a bomb until the bomb squad guy shows up and then discovering that there was a new bunch of bombs about to explode and kill you and a few of your friends is forgetful…

And another cherry on my cake: even the FBI (the FBI) had been on my tail, for crying out loud! Me! I had always been a law abiding citizen, and suddenly, I had the FBI after me! And they didn't even know half the story! Because if they did know about the time when I killed Debbie Pelt, I'd have been put in a jail cell. Me! Killing someone! Shooting her! In self-defense, obviously… But still…

I mean: I went from "nothing happens" to "everything happens" in a couple of years. And so I really, really, really needed some peace and quiet, and, above all, some normalcy. And that's why I left to Tennessee. I freaked out with everything that was happening in my life, and Eric's absence didn't help me either, and I left.

And things actually calmed down. But just for a while; just until the fairies decided they wanted a piece of me. And it was awful. But after the "Fae war" I was able to have some quietude once more. And then I went through a very happy couple of years, because I was recently married and I had a baby girl. But David soon started hanging with other supes and eventually we divorced. And after another fairy incident (and by incident I meant that they tried to kill me… for a second time), I thought I had found some peace… with Eric. But, of course, I hadn't. Eric's maker decided to visit and he even brought with him his younger child and more drama. After it, Eric changed (he was kind of traumatized) and it was really hard to live with him back then. But in due course he came back to his own self. And eventually we got over that Ocella/Alexei episode as well.

A few more months of calm followed, but David's death was a strong blow in our lives again. Lizzie really missed her father (she still misses him and talks about David quite often). But kids are strong. And she reacted as best as we could hope to her daddy's death. Eric helped her, of course. Time passed again.

And a month ago, last Christmas was one of the happiest ever! Pam was away vacationing in Europe and my brother was in New Orleans on his latest honeymoon (his fourth). And so, the Christmas Eve was spent at home just the three of us. But it was, believe me, just perfect. It wasn't the best day of my life, obviously (that would have been Lizzie's birthday), but it was a very close second or third best day! We had the fire place, the Christmas tree and the nativity set with the little crib and figures. And gifts, obviously. I bought Eric a really good (and a little bit too expensive) watch and he gave me a lovely necklace and earring set. And we both laughed when we realized that we had both been to the same store to buy the gifts for each other. And obviously there were Lizzie's presents: tons of clothes (she was growing so fast…!) and play toys. And Nike, her new puppy dog. But the best present of the night was the one Liz gave Eric, unknowingly: she called him dad.

Well, I had always thought that Eric was absolutely gorgeous. Everyone would! He was an Adonis. His body was a master piece. His face has got to have been crafted by angels, for sure. And his eyes had the most beautiful dark-blue rim around his iris and also an even mix of pale blue and white rays… Yes, I had always thought that Eric was utterly stunning. But when my daughter called him dad? It was like his face lighted inside and his eyes were shooting rays of light or something. The way the smiled... Just remembering it now, still brings tears to my face… Happy tears, of course. That night, I felt extremely happy and blessed knowing that my daughter loved Eric; and that he was happy about it and he loved her back… And let me tell you that the sex that night was un-un-un-believable. Even better than it normally was.

And now, a month later, Pam was back to Louisiana (much earlier than planned) and I felt that everything was finally how it should be, because she belonged to our family too (well, everything was finally how it should be, except for the fact that Nike loved to chew the pillows on the living room couch and any shoe he got hold of).

But, as usual, the universe didn't give us a break and another possible problem was on her way to our home (yes, the problem was a "her"). And Eric was telling me about it (about her) on the night after Pam's arrival. Huh… Now that I thought about it… Had Pam come back earlier than scheduled because of this person Eric was talking about? I'd have to ask her later, because now there was a more pertinent question.

"Is this the same Natércia that called you on Christmas Eve?" I remembered Eric saying something about a Natércia because it was an unusual name. It sounded strange and old, and I had immediately figured out that she would be a vampire. But I also still remembered asking Eric about it, and he dismissing the subject. So I just didn't care about it then. I guess I should have…

"Yes. And I called her back on the next night. I was expecting her to say that she wanted me to visit her, but she didn't. Instead, she said that she was coming to visit me in a few weeks. And uuhh… she'll arrive tomorrow."

Oh no. Not again… Why did Eric always do this? Why? I knew that he wanted to shield me away from any possible problem or care in the world. But I was not a little child. I was not Lizzie's age for crying out loud. When would Eric understand that? And why hadn't he told me before (like a month before) about that… Natércia? "Is there any reason why you are telling me this just now and not back then?"

"She is an old companion. And she is visiting. That is all."

I wanted to scream "wrong answer buddy", because he didn't actually answer my question, but I let him be (for now!). And why did I let him be? Because there was something else that was bothering me right then and there. And it was Eric's face. Because he was dead serious. That was truly a serious matter to him. Whatever that Natércia might be, she was important and he was… nervous about her visit. But I just couldn't see why... So, he was hiding from me something else about this visit, I could tell. But I couldn't see why either. In the past two years, since I had moved to his house, several vampires had visited Eric. He was over 1000 years old and he was an important sheriff (with De Castro in Las Vegas and Victor in Arkansas, Eric was basically the non-official King of Louisiana). So, obviously, vampires visited him. And it was always okay because Eric over-ranked everyone.

Except Filipe De Castro.

"Is she married to De Castro? Is this Natércia your Queen?"

"No, she is not. In point of fact, she has been living in Canada for the last few years, not the US. She is a very ancient companion and she is visiting."

There it was again: the drop of the contractions, the formal expressions like "in point of fact" instead of "actually" and "ancient" instead of "old". And what was it with the "companion" thing? Eric had called her that twice already. Again, if this was just a regular visit, Eric would not be like this. And other than when Filipe visited us, the only other visit that hadn't been okay was when Ocella, Eric's "father", had been in Louisiana.

I wondered… could it be? Well, nothing better than to just ask him. And that was what I did.

"Is this Natércia your other maker or something?" I had always thought that vampires had only one maker and it didn't matter if it was a male or female vampire. Up to my knowledge, to create a vampire, the maker just had to drink the "child" dry and then give him or her the maker's own blood. Et voilá, a vampire was made. But who the hell knew about vampire's laws and traditions? Maybe they needed a "mother" and "father" maker? Jesus! They had come out of the coffin almost 20 years before. Someone should have already written a damned "What You Really Need To Know" book about them.

But Eric just laughed at my question. Better. Much better. He was laughing, showing me how silly my question had been. And I felt better already. If he was laughing that easily, the new visit couldn't be too bad. Uuhh… Right?

"Lover, Ocella was my maker," Eric answered.

"And I killed him," Pam added in a second.

"So this Natércia is…?" I said. It was sort of a sentence, but I gave it an interrogation tone hoping that someone would end it for me. And I got my wish. Twice. Because both Pam and Eric completed my phrase.

"A bitch" Pam said. And, at exactly the same time, Eric answered "my friend".

Ooookay. Humm… My eyes moved between both of them sort of asking them to explain why the two answers, or at least, which one was true. And finally, Eric said: "Natércia is my oldest friend. I met her in Italy, in a village between Rome and Lazio in the 11th century. She's actually one of my trusted friends." He said the last sentence looking at Pam.

"Okay, an old friend…" I hoped to God that it would only be like a high school reunion of sorts. I really hoped so. "Ohh, so it's good that she's visiting you. How long have you guys not seen each other?" I asked.

"A little more than two years,"

Ah. What?

Vampires as old as Eric, or even Pam, sometimes spent decades (as in many decades!) without meeting each other. They always spoke about time with a very different concept about it than us, regular not immortal people… Damn it! That could only be a bad thing. Even high school reunions had people that hadn't met for way longer than two years! If Eric and that Natércia person couldn't stay away from each other for more than two years, it had to be a bad thing… I stayed sitting there with my eyes narrowed, wondering what exactly Natércia was beyond being Eric's friend. Pam had called her a bitch. Did that mean…?

"Is she your girlfriend?"

Now it was Pam's time to start laughing at my question but Eric looked at her with one of his "I'm your maker" stares and she immediately shut up. Okay, so that new question wasn't a laughing subject to Eric. And I could understand him. It sure wasn't a humorous issue to me either. But I knew that I would have felt much better, if he had laughed just like he had done with the "is she your maker" question.

After almost a minute, Eric finally answered: "We were lovers in the past, yes. Several times actually."

Lovers? Did he say… lovers? But that was… it was me. I was the lover. I was. How come he used that expression while talking about another woman? Oh my…

I closed my eyes and I took a deep breath. A very deep breath. And then, I took another. And hell, just for the sake of trinity, I took a third one before I opened my eyes. I kept trying to stay calm and I looked at Eric's eyes, which were focused on me. Okay... I was feeling calmer then. And he had said that it was just a visit. Just. A. Visit.

So… my kind of husband's trusted friend and lover ("several times" lover) was visiting. Deep breath number four followed. Great. Just… great.

"Sookie", Eric continued with the tone of voice that he always used when he was trying to calm me down, but that actually bothered me, because I knew that he was being condescending with me, "Natércia is my age and she doesn't deal with humans often. It is possible that she won't be happy to meet you."

"Possible?" Pam said. Eric gave her another of his "shut up" looks and she sat back on the couch again.

"Okay, probable. It's probable that she won't be happy to meet you. But that's just it. Natércia won't probably be agreeable to you. And I'll have to spend some time with her. She's my friend, after all. But that's just it. She'll visit. She will be rude to everyone but me for a few nights. And then she'll leave. She never stays for long. One, two weeks at the most. And then, like I said, she'll leave."

He said spend some time with her… with the "several times" lover, that Pam had called a "bitch". So, even though I was scared of his next answer, I knew that I had to ask my next question. And after a fifth deep breath, I asked him and I prepared myself for whatever answer he'd give me.

"Will you have sex with her?"

"I'll have sex with you," he said grabbing and kissing my hand. Not good! Oh my God! This was so not good! He didn't answer my question. He did not answer it. Was it by chance or he intentionally didn't answer my question?

"Will you have sex with her?" I repeated myself. But I did it pausing between each couple of words, and it actually sounded like: "Will you. Full stop. Have sex. Full stop. With her. Full stop." I knew it was an awful way to ask him that, but I had to use all the emphasis I could. This was as serious a conversation as we could have. I then quickly wondered why we had been discussing that in front of Pam, but I was just way into it, to worry about Pam. Besides, I was sure that Eric would tell her everything. And even I might end up doing the same. I guess it all depended on his answer.

I took my sixth deep breath of the evening right before he spoke.

"I will not." He said looking at my eyes. And he too paused between each word: "I. Full stop. Will. Full stop. Not. Full stop." And he said it looking at my eyes. Oh Jesus! Thank you good God! I relaxed immediately and completely believed him. As Eric himself had once said to me: he might not always tell me everything, but he always tells me the truth.

Yes, I was already feeling much better. Maybe it really was just a regular visit of an old friend. If so, I should do my part as the hostess. I'd receive Eric's friend with my southern grace. "Will she be staying with us?"

"No. I've already reserved a room for her in the new vamps' hotel next to Bloodbath. The… What's the name again, Pam?"

"Continental Hotel," she answered with a bored expression.

"Oh right. That's it. Nat will be spending the night there, Sookie."

So it was "Nat" already, hah? Good to know…

Deep breath number seven did squat to calm me and I then answered him with a bad-tempered "okay." I sure wasn't feeling as well as just a minute before. I was now thinking about Pam's "bitch-calling" and Eric's too frequent meetings with that Nat-character.

"Okay?" he repeated me but with an interrogation tone. He had probably heard my thoughts in the tone with which I had said okay. Well, it didn't matter. I was still kind of mad that he had hidden all that from me. He had known about the visit for a month (as in thirty damn days) but he had waited until the night before to tell me? What if she had come earlier? Had Eric forgotten about Ocella already?

And now he was asking me if it was okay. Well, it was not okay. It was so not okay. Actually, it was the opposite of okay. But there wasn't a thing I could do about it. She was on her way to Louisiana already. Now I could only react the best way possible to all that. And besides, the "why are you just telling me now" part of the conversation should be done without Pam's presence. I'd be telling Eric some hard things for him to hear about it, and I didn't want to do it in front of his "child". Not that Pam was an actual child, like Liz, but I knew that Eric would feel undermined if I admonished him in front of her.

"Yes, okay," I finally answered.

"Okay," he repeated, "so I'm leaving to Fangtasia. I'll be back close to dawn, so don't wait up for me," Eric then got up and quickly gave me a goodnight kiss. The then turned to Pam and asked: "Are you coming with me now? Or you're going to Bloodbath first?"

What? Was he just… leaving to go to Fangtasia all night? After dropping that bombshell on me? Without talking more to me about it? The next night that Natércia was supposed to be there... And Eric had just said that he would be "spending time" with her. And after telling me that… he was leaving? But I didn't have time to speak, because Pam answered him immediately.

"No. Today's just Fangtasia. But I'm not going yet. Liz wants to do a runway show for me with her new clothes from Christmas so I can see her new stuff."

"Oh, great. I'll tell her you're ready for it."

He then went upstairs to say goodnight to Lizzie and left after kissing me goodnight a second time. And I, quite uncharacteristically, just let him leave without uttering a single word.

I could hear my child running upstairs from one bedroom to another, getting everything together for her showroom to Pam. She had been anxious to show her everything since she had received it all on Christmas night.

"You must be careful Sookie," Pam said as soon as Eric left and closed the door behind him.

Careful? Oh God! "Why?" I managed to ask.

"Natércia's at least as old as Eric. Neither of them is completely sure of how old they are, especially Eric, but she's probably a little bit older than he is. They fought once when they met and she won back then. And that's why we think she's older. But not much older. Just a couple of decades,"

Shit. In the vampires handy book (that still doesn't exist) older equals stronger and faster. So, why would Pam be telling me that? Why would I have to be careful that that Natércia was stronger and faster? I sure wouldn't fight her. I had been lucky on the two times that I had attempted and managed to kill a vampire. And those had been just two flukes – both vampires had just been too engrossed into something else (killing a fellow vampire) to care about me. I could only feel fortunate that I hadn't died in either situation. And I sure wouldn't tempt fate, trying to fight a third vampire. I wouldn't. But apparently, Pam thought that Eric might. But, again, why would she say that?

"But… they're friends, Pam. It doesn't matter who's older. They won't fight. She's just visiting, right?"

"Let's hope so. But she's not only Eric's friend, Sookie. Like he said, they've been lovers on-again and off-again for the last 800 years," she said, and I trembled when I heard that word again. Lovers.

I knew that it was just a word (and apparently a popular one among Pam and Eric), but… Eric had been the only person that I had ever heard call someone "lover" like that and I sure had only been called that by him. But now he was calling someone else "lover"; and Pam was doing it as well… It just… It bothered me. So I could only answer: "Ohh…"

But apparently, that was enough answer for Pam, because she continued: "Up until you showed up, I'd say that Natércia was Eric's mate. You know, she was the one that really helped him when you left. Appius helped Eric break the bond, yes. But it was Natércia that made him live again. And I hate her. I really hate her. But even I have to recognize that she was the one that gave Eric back his "joi de vivre". She was the one that put him back together after you bro… Uhh… It was Natércia that helped Eric,"

Oh. So apparently she was the magical "put-together-er" of the Eric I had sort of broke when I left. Me? Breaking Eric? But Pam sounded actually somewhat grateful to that… person, even though Pam hated her. I decided to use Pam's rare willing-to-talk mood and I kept asking her for details:

"Why do you say that?"

"You know Eric loved you right from the beginning, don't you? You have to know that!"

Hearing Pam talking so at-ease about Eric loving me felt great, but I was also sort of embarrassed. I felt myself blushing, and then I nodded and answered her, a whispered "I do now."

"Well, he didn't tell you frankly about it, because he didn't understand it himself back then, but he sure did. And when you left, he went through these… well, moods. He'd have fangbanger after fangbanger for a few months, but then he'd refrain from them altogether for another few months. And he'd be excited about work, but soon he wouldn't care about it… He would want more power from Felipe to run Louisiana, but quickly he'd get tired about it and say that he didn't even want to be Area's 5 Sheriff… Well, it was as if he had multiple-personalities or something."

"Ohh," I said. Well, apparently, it was an "ohh" night. But I truly didn't know what to say. Eric had never told me anything about our time apart.

"Yeah, and not even breaking the bond did the trick. You were still on his head, every freaking night. Do you know that he was once offered a couple of quarter-fairies?"

"Uh… No, I didn't."

"He was. And it was just after Ohio was crowned King. Apparently, he owed Eric for something that happened in Japan like forty or fifty years ago. And he thought of giving them to Eric during a conference as an appreciation gift, kind of thanking him for his help that time in Yokohama. And you know what Eric said?" She asked, but then she didn't give me time to respond to her, because she immediately gave me the answer: "He said he didn't want them. Ohio told him to at least drink a little from them before he refused the gift, but Eric didn't even want to taste the girls. And he didn't. He said that he didn't like the Fae flavor. As if…" Pam quickly rolled her eyes, and then she kept talking, "Everyone thought it was an extremely strange behavior. Didn't like how Fae taste? They thought Eric was crazy! But not me. I knew that he didn't want to sample them because their taste and smell would only make him remember of you. And that was Eric's problem. He couldn't stop thinking about you no matter how hard he tried."

My mouth was dry after that little story. Pam was almost making one hell of a love declaration in Eric's name. And it should have calmed me about that whole "old friend visiting" thing. If Eric had loved me for a decade (and we were apart then), he'd probably continue to love me, no matter who was to visit. Yes, it should have calmed me. But it didn't. Because of Natércia's importance to Eric. And I had to know why. I had to know what she really meant to Eric and who she really was to him. "And Natércia?"

"Well, a few years after you left, Natércia suddenly arrived from Russia. She had been missing for a few years, because she had been caught by some Russian fanatics. And Eric was fucking happy when she showed up because he had thought she had died there after the Great Revelation. You remember the stories about those vampires in Eastern Europe and the Middle East after that night, right?"

I did remember it. Many vampires all around the world had been caught and tortured or even finally killed after the Great Revelation because they were real, they existed and they were among us. Even in the US, there had been lots of incidents, with both human and vampire deaths. But Russia had been one of the worst places and it had been all over the news back then. After I nodded to Pam, she kept talking.

"So he asked her to stay in Louisiana. And she did. For three or four years. And during that time, she fixed him. She made him forget all about you. Or at least forget enough about you, that he sounded normal again. She fixed what you had wrecked in Eric."

What I had wrecked in Eric? Good God. Well, I had always known that Pam spoke her mind no matter what, but Geez! Could she, at least, have a tiny mouth filter? Could she stop rubbing in my face what I considered to be one of the biggest mistakes in my life? I didn't want to hear anything more about how I was the "bad guy" and Natércia was the "good girl" that had helped Eric overcome my bad deeds. I decided to change the subject. And change it back to the "Natércia's bad" part of the conversation.

"So why do you hate her?"

"After Eric made me a vampire, we were together as a couple for a while. We had just moved from Liverpool to Bath back then and I loved my new life. I was with Eric and I had to obey him, but I was feeling free for the first time ever. I felt that I'd be able to do everything and have everything and everyone I wanted," Pam said smiling. I guessed she was remembering those times.

"And?"

"So, I was with Eric. Everything was okay. We had been together for almost thirty years already. And then Natércia showed up in England. She said she was visiting because they hadn't seen each other for half a century…"

Okay. So that sounded familiar… Except that in my case, they hadn't seen each other for two years, not fifty… Because Pam had paused again, I repeated my previous word: "And?"

"And Eric ended everything with me because of her. He basically told me to get lost. Just like that. It was actually the first time we separated. And it was because of Natércia. She had taken away my maker and the guy who had been pretending to be my husband for three decades in just a couple of nights after her arrival. I hated her for taking away my Eric."

"Have everyone I wanted"? "My Eric?" So… Pam wanted Eric? Their recent… "get together", or, to be more graphic, the sex they had had when I was still in Tennessee came to my mind again…

"Do you… Do you still want that with Eric?"

"Hell no! He has a dick. I'm in a ladies mood now," she immediately said. And like I had believed her when I had discovered about the sex between them, I believed her again.

"So, do you still hate her because she stole Eric from you, two hundred years ago?" I felt a chill run through my body. I remembered the parallelism with Pam's story: Pam and Eric were happy, Natércia showed up, Natércia stole Eric from Pam. That same chill was now getting lodged in my central spine and it was like it was eating away a little bit of my soul. Would Natércia steal Eric from me, too? Luckily, Pam continued talking and scared away my scaring thoughts.

"That was just the first reason that made me hate Natércia. I have many others. She's arrogant, she treats everyone, even vampires, like shit, and she's prejudiced and narrow-minded. She thinks she can do everything she wants and everything has to be her way… And the list goes on, and on… I hate her for many reasons."

She sounded just my opposite. How could Eric even stand to be around Natércia, let alone put up with her for 800 years? Even worse, they weren't just "pals". Pam had called Natércia his "mate" before… Oh God!

"You were saying Natércia is Eric's mate?" My heart pained me when I said those last words "Natércia is Eric's mate". And the same stupid chill kept freezing me inside.

"She was. Now you are. I just hope Natércia sees it that way. I don't want her to try to kill you. For one, you're my friend. And secondly, Eric will battle her to defend you. And I'm not sure if he will win. Eric might lose if they fight."

"Are you ready?" I heard Lizzie's voice asking from the stairs. And then I heard Pam answering her and clapping her hands because the "runway show" was about to start. And Nike was also barking loudly somewhere, which was against his "inside the house rules". But I couldn't hear or think anything other than "Eric might lose" because I knew that after a fight was lost, the winner almost always killed the loser.

So? Any thoughts about this chapter? Is Sookie over-reacting? Is this just a normal visit? Or is it something else? Next chapter: Natércia arrives and later she meets Sookie and Liz. How do you see that meeting going? Will both Sookie and Nat "behave"? Will Nat be polite or quite the opposite? I'd love to hear your thoughts about it! Thank you. Célia

Keep the Faith is the fifth studio album by the rock band Bon Jovi, released on November 3, 1992. It includes the song "Little Bit of Soul". This song, along with others in the album, represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Bon Jovi, which turned away from glam metal in favor of a more mature rock sound. Its lyrics: "When you're mad at the world / And you feel like / You're losing control / What we all need / To get by is just / A little bit of soul / Whoa oh little bit of soul"