Mine

by kilera

Sookie's little sister has returned, but to what and who has noticed her there...

36. Chapter 36

It's a miracle! I know, I know… (Hangs head in shame, again.) It's been a while, okay, a loooonnnnggg while and I am so sorry for that. Some chapters come to me like nothing and others seriously almost kill me to get out. Thank you again for sticking by me though. This one will be a really long chapter, in fact I think it's the longest chapter yet. I thought about cutting it in half, but in the end I wanted to keep it all together. But it's a cliff-hanger so please read to the end of the chapter. The next one will have some revelations for our Arabella, and you all of course.

To those who just joined this ride, thank you for taking a chance on my story and to those who've stayed on the ride, thank you for still having faith in me. It means the world to me!

So please enjoy… oh… and review. Reviews let me know what you are thinking/liking/hating etc.

And of course, just a friendly reminder that this is a True Blood fanfic that's rated M for a reason. There's some adult situations and talk in this chapter. You've been warned.

…

"That place was the bomb! Wasn't it guys?" Jason said happily as he roughed up Coby's hair with his hand and then pulled both him and Lisa by the shoulders to walk with him as our rag-tag group strolled down the street back towards the hotel. To the passersby on the street, he probably looked like a dad taking his kids out for the day. My heart ached as I watched the scene. With all the near death experiences that seemed to come at me and my family like a freight train with no brakes, I prayed that at least one of us would be able to actually become a parent one day. The thought of the Stackhouse line ending with the three of us made me beyond sad. Of course there was possibly still Hadley, although none of us knew her fate as of now. I could only hope and pray that she was at least still alive.

"Sure was Uncle Jason! Did you see how much whipped cream they put on our banana splits? We gotta tell Momma about that place!" Coby exclaimed excitedly to Lisa who nodded eagerly in agreement. It was obvious from his and Lisa's giddiness over Gilly's Ice Cream Emporium that they didn't go to those kind of places often. Not that I really ever delved too deeply into what Arlene did with her kids, but I assumed from the way that none of them ever talked about going anywhere except Merlotte's that they didn't go out to often to other places. I could see why though, what with her being a single mom on a limited budget and Sam being so generous with his staff. In fact, I don't think I ever saw Sam charge Arlene for her or her kids food and drinks. Why would she go anywhere else?

As much as I really didn't want to go out today, I knew I had to since I promised the kids we would last night. I had to admit it though, it was nice actually, to have that little reprieve from the shit-storm we were going to face tonight; to be able to take solace in the faces of those two innocent kids and the sheer happiness they felt while eating those decadent ice cream treats; to take pleasure in mindless conversation with good friends; to forget your cares for a moment. It was such a simple thing really; a simple pleasure, but it reminded me that when this current mess was over, I really needed some happy time for myself. 'It's too bad that Sook is taking a vacation with Bill right now. It would have been fun to go on a trip with her. Maybe I'll visit Jessalyn in California…' I thought to myself before getting roused from my thoughts by the clusterfuck currently situated in front of our hotel.

"Hey Arabella, check out all them cars and people in front of our hotel. What you think's going on?" Jason asked while Sam turned towards me with a cautious look in his eyes. Why did everyone think I had the answers to everything? Did I look like frickin' wikipedia?

"I have no idea, but it's a hotel so I guess they get busy at times." I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. I wasn't so deluded by recent events to think that everything that happened around us had to do with us. Obviously other people had lives too; nice, normal, non-supernatural lives. But, on the other hand, I guess you never did know.

Oh how I wished I could trade places with one of those other people now and let someone else deal with the Maenad. Wouldn't that be a shock to whoever had to switch with me though? I guess in all honesty, I wouldn't really wish my current situation on anyone else. That would be a horrible thing to do wouldn't it?

As our group walked past the swarm of people trying to get their luggage out of their cars in front of the hotel, I saw one person had a lanyard around their neck with an access badge attached that read, "Northern Louisiana Car and Boat Convention". I elbowed Sam lightly and nodded my head towards the badge. He turned to see at what I was pointing out and looked relieved when he saw that the swarm of people were just there for a convention and weren't a part of Maryann's dead god party posse. It also was a good sign that no one had them 'alien eyes' as Jason so eloquently put it.

"That's a relief." I heard Sam say under his breath. I had to admit to myself I thought the same thing. I was also glad that Jesus was able to complete his potion last night; with the hotel having more guests now, I don't know if the noises he was making last night would have been tolerated. Lord knows they wouldn't have been explainable, or at least we wouldn't be able to explain without some serious storytelling on our end.

Not wanting everyone to hear what I had to say, I pulled Sam and Jesus aside slightly so that I could speak to them privately while the others walked ahead towards the hotel entrance. "We should probably have everyone congregate in Sam's room tonight. I hate to admit this, but I'm a little worried that someone in our rag-tag group may try to slip out thinking they could help tonight. You both know that would be a big mistake, right?"

"No, you're absolutely right chere. That's why I was going to pick up a bottle of Tequila and Rum for Lafayette and Tara. I figure the best way to keep them at the hotel is to get them so sloppy drunk that they pass out. As for Jason, I figure that Jesus can pull up some movies that Jason can watch with the kids. That should keep him distracted enough." Sam explained his ideas on keeping everyone at bay that night.

"Good plan Sam. Jesus, you okay with that? You think you can keep everyone here?" I asked hoping he didn't mind babysitting tonight since it was up to Sam and I to pull off this insane plan.

Jesus chuckled lightly and replied, "Yeah, that should work, but just in case, I have some special tricks up my sleeve to keep everyone here safe and sound." But then he spoke with more seriousness, "You don't have to worry about what's going on here. You'll have enough on your plate dealing with the Maenads."

Sam and I nodded at Jesus while I thought to myself, 'Truer words were never spoken.'

"Well, let's go catch up with everyone or else we might lose them before this night even starts." I said with a nervous laugh. Unfortunately with this group, anything and everything could very well happen.

As soon as the three of us entered the lobby, I was nearly tackled by the clearly stressed-out manager. "Ummmm, you're Miss Stackhouse, right? I was hoping you'd return soon." The manager said while looking around the lobby, taking in the sheer volume of people currently trying to check-in. He hated conventions. It made working at the hotel almost unbearable, especially when you have unique situations arise, just like the one he currently needed to deal with.

I unconsciously backed away from the foul-smelling manager who definitely wasn't handling the influx of people in his hotel very well. He had sweat on his brow, which he tried to wipe off with an already soaked handkerchief. I was afraid I was going to need a shower from just standing by him he smelled so bad from sweating. He also was acting weirdly, with his eyes darting all around the lobby. It was a little disconcerting to say the least.

"Yeah… I'm Arabella Stackhouse." I answered slowly, not sure really at this point if I should own up to it based on the way this guy looked. Sam and Jesus inched towards me as they both noticed the manger's nervousness. At least I wasn't alone in thinking this guy looked suspicious.

"Ummmm, well, you had a special delivery delivered to your room this afternoon while you were out. Were you expecting… anything?" The guy stammered out. He was sweating bullets. 'What was up with this guy?' I thought to myself. Sam must have been thinking the same thing because his eyebrow shot up while looking at me.

Before I could answer or delve into the manager's mind, I heard Jason yell out and chase after the kids in a vain attempt to try to round them up like lost cattle as the kids started running around the lobby like chickens with their heads cut off dodging the influx of people and luggage. They were obviously already bored waiting to get back up to the rooms. It clearly didn't help that they were completely hopped up on sugar from our visit to the ice cream shop. It also didn't escape my attention that Lafayette and Tara were laughing their asses off at the spectacle. 'Thanks for the help guys!' I thought to myself sarcastically but then chastised myself. What was I thinking? This was Lala and Tara for Pete's sake. They could barely take care of themselves half the time.

Not wanting to deal with Jason and the kids just yet I turned my attention back to the manager and said, "Well, I wasn't expecting anything." It was an honest answer. I really wasn't expecting anything. I mean, it wasn't like I was doing any Internet shopping or the like while working on a plan to off the Maenads. I'm not that good at multitasking. Although, I could probably use some retail therapy, or just therapy in general when this was all over.

"Well, it's just… we're not used to receiving these kinds of… deliveries… here at the hotel." The manager said, now looking around nervously. The lines at the front desk were getting out of hand as other guests were starting to get upset. He would need to attend to them.

Now I was just getting pissed. Can't this guy just come out and say what was delivered? "Look mister… uh… mister…" I started to say before he cut me off.

"Mr. Carter." The manager said.

"Mr. Carter. I seriously have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. So how about we just cut through this song and dance and you tell me what was delivered?" I was done with this. Plus, we needed to get our plan in sync and so forth.

Just after I demanded to know what was delivered, another guest grabbed the uniform of one of his employees and starting yelling obscenities. "I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse me, I have to help deal with these people. Just know that we normally would not accept those kinds of deliveries, but we made an exception for you due to your history with our fine establishment. But, if you could refrain from such deliveries in the future, we'd be much obliged. We have a reputation to uphold after all." Mr. Carter said before walking away abruptly to the front desk to help his employee before he ended up with a black eye.

"What the hell?" I blurted out to Sam and Jesus, who looked equally confused and worried.

"Well chere, I guess we should go check out what ya got." Sam said before calling the others to come join us.

…

After waiting for what felt like forever to get in an elevator due to the crowds already waiting ahead of us, we finally arrived back on our floor. Just before we reached my room, I turned to Sam and said softly, "Sam, it might be a good idea for the kids to start watching a movie in your room now, don't cha think?" I was worried that whatever was delivered might not be kid friendly. 'Hopefully it will be Arabella friendly.' I thought to myself apprehensively.

Sam, catching on to what I wasn't saying, replied, "Oh… yeah." He then added loudly and with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, "Hey kids, you wanna go watch a movie with Lafayette and Tara in my room?"

"Yeah!" Both Coby and Lisa exclaimed excitedly. They hadn't had this much fun in forever. Between their momma crying over Mister Daddy Rene leaving on his vacation with Jesus (but not the Jesus that was with them now) and then her strange make-out sessions with Mister Terry, they kinda were left on their own, a lot.

"Sure thang. How bouts we put on Mean Girls. It'd be right up your alley Tara. You knows all bouts being a mean girl." Lafayette said with a smirk.

"Or, we could put on Priscilla Queen of the Desert, seeing as you know all about being a queen. Isn't that right Lafayette?" Tara replied tartly, but with a small smile on her lips. This was their way; to hide behind sarcasm and scathing barbs instead of dealing with the unimaginable things that they both had seen recently. Well that, and a bottle of something inebriating; no, correction, make that bottles of something inebriating.

"Ummm hmmm. I shorely do. And, as the queen that I is, I's gots the most spec-tac-cu-lar family jewels. Ain't that right Jesus baby?" Lafayette replied with an air kiss and wink, snapping his fingers back and forth while saying spectacular. Jesus looked at us with a mixture of shock and discomfort. Sure he was used to Lafayette's tawdrier demeanor, but sometimes it was a bit much, like now in front of these kids.

"You've got jewelry Lala? Can we see it?" Lisa asked excitedly. Momma didn't have any jewelry except for her old wedding bands.

"Oh honey child, you's sweet and all, but I only show my jewels on special occasions." Lafayette said with a smile at Lisa and another wink towards Jesus.

"Or for the right price." Tara said with a smirk. She knew about Lafayette's Internet side business.

"At least people willing to pay me cause they know I's gots the goods and I's definitely knows how to display them, as opposed to you miss thang." Lafayette replied while eyeing her up and down with fake disdain. "Maybe that's why you so mean. Ain't nobody been up in your bid-ness in way too long."

Tara was about to respond in kind before I butt in, "Oh sweet Lord, can ya'll just be more thoughtful with your words! There are children present!"

"Listen babygirl, they's heard worse from those dang rednecks at Merlottes. We's just edjucating these youngin's cause you knows their momma wants to keep in them in the dark about the real world." Lafayette replied rolling his eyes. Don't get him wrong, he loved Arlene like the uptight white woman that she was, but she definitely needed to let her hair down and loosen up.

"I'm not quite sure that Arlene would agree with your method of education of her kids. Look, can we just try to keep it clean for now? Please. They've already had five lifetimes worth of lessons while we've been trying to deal with this very screwed up situation. They're just kids. Can we let them just be kids for a little while longer? They can be bitter and jaded and overeducated when they are teenagers, or better yet, when they are under Arlene's care." I responded huffily.

Lafayette rolled his eyes but knew I was right. "Fine, you win, but only because I knows you probably going to have a shitty night tonight." He then turned to the kids and said, "Okay you twos, how bouts we put on The Avengers?" It was as good as he was going to give right now because their was no way in hell that he was going to watch some shit like the Smurfs or some damn Disney princess movie or whatever. Plus, he wouldn't mind watching Loki and Thor. Those two men were F-I-N-E! He added though, "Jesus baby, you coming with?"

Jesus, being a little worried about what was waiting in Arabella in her room, replied, "I'll be there in a little bit. I need to go over some stuff with Arabella and Sam anyway first."

"Okay, but don't be too long. I knows you likes yourself some Thor, what with his hammer and all. You loves a man that can use his hammer, don't you." Lafayette said with a smirk.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Jesus said with a headshake and a chuckle. There was no changing Lafayette, not that he wanted to anyway. Jesus loved him just the way he was, so animated and full of life.

Thankfully the kids seemed blissfully ignorant, or just didn't care, about all the adult-talk around them; happy just to be able to watch a movie that their momma never took them to. And so, Sam was able to get them all settled pretty quickly in his room with the movie. He returned to Jason, Jesus and I within five minutes. "The kids are squared away. They know not to leave the room. Now, let's go see what's waiting for you in your room." I chuckled slightly at his comment, knowing that he included Tara and Lafayette as 'the kids'.

So, knowing there was no use in postponing the inevitable, I opened the door to my room, albeit rather slowly. My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped when I finally saw what was waiting in it. It was a silver and shiny and huge and definitely not something that one gets delivered everyday.

"Holy shit!" Jason exclaimed, pointing at the new addition to the room. "What the fuck is that doing here?"

"I have no idea." I replied dumbfounded, wondering why I couldn't be the type of girl who got, oh, I don't know, flowers or chocolates unexpectedly sent, you know, maybe like an 'I'm sorry I was a dick, or thank you for saving my life' kind of gift. No, I'm the girl that gets a coffin sent to her. Awesome! (NOT!)

"You don't think that Eric's in there, do ya? Jason asked as he curiously looked over the coffin.

"I know why it would be. I mean, he lives around here. Why would he deliver himself like this? He would just come here after dark, don'tcha think?" I replied, looking at the coffin as well.

"What about Bill? It could be Bill, right?" Jason continued to ask.

"Why would Bill be here and not Sookie? They went on vacation together, remember?" I answered, shooting down his next theory. 'Oh dear Lord, and my brother wants to be a cop…' I thought to myself that the Bon Temps police department was going to have to be extra patient with its newest recruit.

"Naw, you're right 'bout that. Well shoot… who is this then?" Jason replied, confusion clear as day on his face.

"Is there a little card with it or something? I don't know if it'd be a good idea to open it without knowing anything." Sam interjected, worry on his face.

"I don't know. I don't see anything on top of it, but maybe there's a packing slip around here or something?" I replied while starting to walk and look around the room for anything that would give any indication of why there was a now a coffin in the middle of my room. 'Oh dear Lord… packing slip!' I thought to myself shaking my head. 'Just when I think my life can't possibly get more bizarre I find myself looking for a packing slip for a coffin.'

As all of us scanned the room to look for any clue regarding the latest addition to my room, there was a knock at the door.

"Jason, look through the peephole and see who's there." I said to my brother, who was the closest to the door, as I searched the nightstand on the opposite side of the room.

Jason did as I asked and replied, "It's a girl, but I've never seen her before. She's real pretty though." He straightened up a bit as he continued to look through the hole.

I rolled my eyes thinking, 'Of course that would be the first thing that Jason notices about the stranger knocking at our door while we have a coffin in our room.'

"Is she wearing a maid uniform or look remotely like she works for the hotel?" I finally say. As much as we hadn't been expecting a coffin, we also weren't expecting any visitors, although Eric did say if he couldn't help tonight that he wouldn't leave me alone to deal with the situation. But… it was daytime, so whoever was outside was definitely not a vampire. No, that would probably be the person IN the coffin. That is, unless someone sent me a real dead person. The way things were going lately, you just never knew.

"Nope. She's wearing a great pair of tight jeans and a tank top that's showing a right good amount of cleavage and…" Jason licked his lips as he began to verbally dress and then I'm sure in his mind undress the girl on the other side of the door. I knew that Jason said he wanted to try to change his horn-dog ways, but I had a feeling it was going to be a losing battle for a while.

"Okay Jason, I get the picture. She's dressed in normal street clothes." I stopped him from his ogling of the girl.

The girl knocked again, louder. I was sure that she could hear that people were in the room. It was a hotel after all. The walls were thick, but they weren't soundproof.

Seeing as the girl wasn't going to go away, I walked over to where Jason was and pushed him roughly aside so I could look through the hole. Once I did, I sighed in relief at the sight on the other end. I immediately opened the door and said, "Kelsey. What are you doing here?"

Kelsey smiled widely and gave me a big hug, much to the surprise and confusion of the others in my room. "Arabella! When I saw that there was a delivery going to you, I totally signed up to handle it." She then let go of me and walked into the room.

"Who's your friend Arabella?" Sam asked first while pointing at Kelsey. He was nervous enough about tonight. He didn't need any other distractions.

"Everyone, this here is Kelsey Collins. She's the stewardess I met when I flew to Dallas on Anubis Air. She's really nice." I replied, introducing my friend.

"Hey there Kelsey. I'm Jason, Arabella's brother." Jason cut in immediately, using his Matthew McConaughey-like southern drawl, as he walked over to her, a definite swagger to his step, and held his hand out to shake hers, his signature lady-killer smile on his lips. I really am starting to believe that it's written in his freaking DNA to want to pounce on any pretty non-related female because it was clear that he certainly can't help himself.

Wanting to save my friend from my brother's less than gentlemanly attentions, I walked over towards them and gently nudged Kelsey over to where Sam and Jesus were standing to make their introductions. I whispered to her while nodding my head towards my brother, "You don't want to go there." She giggled in response and whispered back, "I figured… too pretty and too confident. He definitely screams 'player'."

"These two are Sam and Jesus." I said louder as we neared them, gesturing towards each one as I said their names.

"It's nice to meet all of you." Kelsey said sincerely, her warm brown eyes twinkling. While Jesus smiled softly at my friend and said a quick hello, Sam didn't seem so keen on her presence.

"So, Kelsey, no offense, but why are you here exactly?" Sam asked abruptly while he shifted uncomfortably with his feet and ran his hand nervously through his hair. They all still had to talk about the plan for tonight and he surely didn't want to do that with this girl in the room. They needed to find out why she was there and then send her on her merry way.

"Well duh! That coffin's the reason why I'm here of course." She began, acting like it was the silliest question on Earth. When she saw the confused look on Sam's face she continued, "Anubis Air got a request for a day delivery of a vampire. When I saw that it was going to Arabella, I signed up because we hit it off before and to be honest you get paid really well on these types of deliveries because you have to stay with the vampire until they awake. So you see, win-win!" She seemed really excited.

"Do you know who's in the coffin?" I asked, wanting to know what to expect when the owner of the coffin woke up.

"Oh no. They don't give us that information. Vampires are very secretive, especially with their travel. Anubis Air promises complete anonymity when vampires travel during the day. They're at their most vulnerable while the sun's out. It's essential for their security." She replied lightly, like it should have been common knowledge.

Sam then asked the question that I had on the tip of my tongue, "But aren't you a little sacred about what happens when the anonymous vampire wakes up? What if they think you're the dinner portion of their flight?"

"That would never happen. You see, the vampires who use Anubis Air have to sign a very lengthy and explicit contract, one which strictly prohibits anything harmful happening to its employees. Other passengers, well, there's some leeway there, but employees, definitely no. Otherwise they'd have no human employees, which whether they would like to admit it or not, they definitely need. Plus the vampire is given six bags of any blood type of their choosing in a small cooler that's placed in the coffin. That's a 'just in case' measure, but to my knowledge, and trust me us employees talk amongst ourselves, there's never been an incident. I know that vampires get a lot of flack for not being the most trustworthy, etc. but when it comes to the contracts they sign, those things are rock solid." She explained as she sat on one of the beds and took out her phone to quickly text her brother, letting him know that she was safe.

Even now, after I could claim my own fair share of experience with vampires, I don't think that I've come to the point where I felt this calm, cool and collected. Here she was transporting some unknown vampire. Contract or no contract, I still wouldn't feel comfortable with it. But knowing her background and what she wanted, I had to concede that I shouldn't be so surprised by her ease in the situation.

"Okay, so when is Mister or Madame Mystery here supposed to wake up from their beauty sleep? And no offense, but are we supposed to entertain you now or what?" Sam asked, annoyance and exasperation ringing clear in his voice. I knew why, but it wasn't Kelsey's fault for our current issues. We were all on edge to different degrees here but it didn't mean we could just be rude to everyone now. Grace under pressure; that was what Gran had taught us, and though I wasn't always able to follow that motto, I would strive to do so here.

"Sam, can you please be nice to my friend? She's just doing her job." I responded quickly to his outburst.

He knew that Arabella was right; Kelsey was just doing her job. He felt bad for snapping at the girl. So he sheepishly replied, "I'm sorry Kelsey. We're just dealing with some heavy stuff here tonight and this was a little unexpected."

"Apology excepted. Trust me, I've seen some pretty interesting reactions to getting a coffin delivered. This wasn't the worst. Oh my God, wait, let me tell you guys about this one time when I had to deliver a vampire to a sorority. Turns out the vampire was a prostitute and the girls had hired him for some secret initiation party they were having. I had to practically beat them off with a stick to keep them from opening the coffin before he woke. Needless to say, I bolted as soon as the vamp was up. Usually you would think that the girls wouldn't be able to walk after being with a vampire, but I honestly think, at least given the look in those girl's eyes, that vampire was going to be lucky if he could walk after that party. He definitely had a body made for sin though; that leather S&M outfit he had on left pretty much nothing to the imagination for all those horny sorority girls or me. Something tells me though that this wasn't these girls first time at that rodeo." Kelsey said with a giggle, but then, seeing the horrified look on Sam and Jesus's faces, the shocked one on Arabella's face and the strangely turned-on look on Jason's face, she cleared her throat with a sheepish look on her face and continued, "But, ummm, to answer your question, the vampire will awaken as soon as the sun sets, which tonight should start around 5:15pm."

"Well… I guess we'll find out at 5:15 then, huh." Sam said slowly before turning his attention back to Arabella and adding more normally, "Do you think Eric had something to do with this?"

"Probably. I mean he did say that if he couldn't help us tonight that he would send someone else. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't think that he'd send someone in a coffin, but these aren't really normal circumstances, are they?" I responded, kinda glad we just ignored the uncomfortable feeling that entered the room with Kelsey's story. None of us were prudes, by any stretch of the imagination, but let's just say none of us were wanting to repeat that kind of story here with whoever was in this coffin. Especially not me considering I was in the room with my brother, my boss, my gay friend's boyfriend and my new friend. Talk about not happening in any lifetime!

"No, they certainly aren't." Sam replied softly.

An uneasy silence entered the room as no one really seemed to know where to go from here, so I spoke up. "Ummm Kelsey, Sam was right about us having to deal with some stuff here tonight. Is it okay if you hold up in Sam's room for a while? There's some people and kids in there watching movies. It might not be exactly as fun as our flight was, but Sam, Jesus and I need to go over some stuff. Jason can walk you to the other room." I really hoped she wouldn't be difficult here and put up a fuss about being shipped off to the great unknown. Unfortunately, I had to hope the same about Jason, knowing how much he hated to be kept out of the loop on things.

"No problem. But just to let you know, I really do need to be back here at 5:00 pm at the latest. I am supposed to be here when the vampire awakens. Normally I'm not supposed to leave their sight at all or my job's on the line, but I know you wouldn't do anything to the coffin while I'm gone." Kelsey replied with a smile. Thank God she was so easy going… and trusting. I had to hope that her trusting nature didn't get her killed, as in the true death sort of killed, one day.

"Don't you mind none Arabella, I'll take care of your friend. She'll be in real good hands." Jason said with his chest puffed out he-man style, a nod and wink. As it turns out, Jason doesn't seem to mind babysitting when the person he's sitting is pretty and of legal age. I guess I also don't have to worry about any life lessons that he may want to impart upon Kelsey. Looks like she could probably teach him a thing or two. Oh lordy! Between him, Kelsey, Lafayette, Tara, two bottles of liquor, a partridge in a pear tree… I could only hope that the kids didn't pay attention to anything those fools talked about tonight. Oh, who am I kidding? Arlene's gonna kill us!

All that aside, I struggled to not roll my eyes at my brother, because honestly I was grateful that he didn't notice he was being kept out of the plans again. But really, he didn't really need to hear about what we were going to do. And, if he did hear, I'd be worried the whole time that he'd try to interject himself someway into the plans. The way Jason sometimes jumped into situations, wholeheartedly but without a plan or wherewithal to deal with them scared me. I think he liked to live somewhat on the edge; like his life was really some action movie. Maybe that's why he was drawn to that Amy girl like he was. The situation with her wasn't the first bump in the road of life that he'd taken, and no doubt would be his last, but that wouldn't stop me from trying to keep him from being his own worst enemy. I wasn't joking thought when I said to Sookie that he had plain ole dumb luck on his side. He really did, but like anything else, dumb luck could run out eventually.

…

Sam, Jesus and I were finally able to talk about our plans for tonight in more detail after Jason left with Kelsey.

"Okay, now that we're all alone here, how exactly is this switcheroo potion going to work Jesus?" I asked nervously. A lot was going to ride on my being able to convince Maryann that I was actually Daphne. I knew that Daphne wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but Maryann seemed to have her shit together and then some.

Sam looked on expectantly as well at Jesus as the brujo started to explain how it would work. "Okay, I have the finished potion in a water bottle." He then walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a water bottle that said in big black letters DO NOT DRINK!

"Great. So what do we do with it?" I asked nervously.

"In order for the spell to take effect, you need to drink half of this and Daphne has to drink the other half." Jesus said, as if me and Daphne were drinking buddies and this would all be easy-peasy lemon squeezie.

"Yeeeaaahhh, and how am I supposed to get her to drink with me?" I replied with a snort.

"You don't have to get her to drink with you; you just have to get her to drink her half. You're a smart girl Arabella. I have no doubt you'll figure out someway to get her to drink the other half." Jesus said with confidence I wish I could muster right about now.

"As well as figure out a way to maneuver around Maryann's murder and mayhem party, which she has coincidently decided to throw at my house, looking like myself until I find Daphne and somehow get her to drink-up your magic potion. Well slap my ass and call me Helen Keller because I'm sure as hell gonna need a Miracle Worker here." I replied kinda pissy as I crossed my arms across my chest and fell backwards onto my bed. I didn't mean to be bitchy, but if anyone had reason to let out their inner bitch right now, I kinda felt it was me.

Jesus looked at Sam, not knowing what to say or do because truthfully he didn't know Arabella all that well; he basically just met her. Sam, not being a guy used to comforting others looked equally as perplexed. And so, since neither of them knew exactly what to say or do, another uncomfortable silence entered the room.

"Urghhhh! You guys suck at this!" I screamed out as I waved my hands around haphazardly. "Don't you know you're supposed to say everything's going to be okay and we'll figure this out or some shit like that!"

Jesus and Sam both opened their mouths to respond, confusion written on their faces, but nothing came out. They really didn't know what to say.

"Oh screw it!" I yelled out in frustration. I sprang my upper body up from the bed, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly as I tried to formulate a plan.

Jesus and Sam looked at me expectantly, both kinda sacred to say anything that might piss me off.

"Wait, I think I got it." I finally say after about five minutes of tense silence. Jesus and Sam listened intently while I continued; "I'll wear my own clothes until I find with Daphne. I'll keep hers in a bag with me. Until I find her, I'll wear a baseball cap and lots of goth makeup, so much so that I wouldn't even recognize me. I'll disguise my voice and get her to come with me somewhere private so that I can get our clothes changed, etc. Oh Jesus, I forgot, will our voices be switched as well as our looks?"

"Yes, I made sure of that as well. It will be a perfect switch. You both will not return to your real appearances until five minutes after Daphne's demise." Jesus said solemnly. Even though he was talking about the death of a crazy psycho killer, it still was a death that we all were planning.

"You sure you can manage all that?" Sam asked, not in a condescending way, but rather in a concerned manner. He didn't want Arabella to have to do so much by herself. It didn't seem right, especially since he felt like this whole situation with the Maenad was brought on by his history with her in the first place.

"Can you think of any other way? You and I seem to be among the few who can't be mind-controlled by her. But… she was able to force you to shift. No… you have to stay out of all this until your white bull in shining armor routine is needed. We can't jeopardize you getting caught before Maryann's ready to meet her bull-god." I replied.

Before Sam could even attempt to disagree, Jesus added, "She's right Sam. You have to stay hidden until the time is right. Maryann has to believe that she's successfully summoned her god."

Sam sighed, knowing that they were both right. "I know, I know. But, it doesn't mean that I have to like it."

"I don't like it either Sam. I'm not exactly doing cartwheels here at the thought of trying to outsmart some old supernatural badass, but our hands are tied here. We have to get rid of her and Daphne before they kill anymore innocent people." I said as I placed my hand on top of his.

"You know… your plan still has a lot of holes in it." Sam said with a snort.

"Yeah, well, I suppose I'll have to do a lot of improvising. I've gotten pretty good at that lately though." I said, trying to be a bit lighthearted here. 'Maybe I should take some acting lessons.' I thought to myself. With everything that has come my way lately, they might come in handy.

"What about Eric?" Sam then asked the question I kinda dreaded because I didn't want to think on it.

"Honestly… I think we have to plan that he won't be there." I finally replied. To be real honest, I don't know what he could do anyway. Maryann kicked his ass hard last time we met. Sam just nodded in understanding. No words were necessary.

The three of us continued to discuss some minor odds and ends about the night until there was a knock on the door. It seemed that 5:00pm had rolled around before we knew it and Kelsey had returned to be present for when our guest would awaken. It was weird really. Jesus, Sam and I all carried on our talk and planning without even blinking an eye that there was a coffin in the middle of the room. I decided, after making that realization, that I truly and without a doubt led a completely fucked up life.

…

"This is always so exciting!" Kelsey said as she rubbed her hands together and wiggled her eyebrows; it was 5:13pm and almost show time. 'She's really a rare bird that one.' I thought to myself. 'Most people would be shitting a brick right now waiting for a vampire to pop out of a coffin, even I was a little nervous and the coffin was sent to me, but she's grinning and excited like she's on The Price is Right and she's about to see what's behind door number 2.' It seemed that Jason, who had returned with Kelsey, couldn't help but get himself caught up in her enthusiasm, seeing as he too looked like he was just as excited about the 'big reveal'. Sam and Jesus both looked apprehensive but curious about who would appear. As for me, I had a slight detached look on my face; I just wanted this over and done with. I've had enough surprises to last a lifetime or two already.

As the coffin started to open in what seemed like slow motion, my breath hitched and I felt my heart skip a beat. I'm sure the others in the room also were a little scared, but this coffin was sent to me. Whoever was lying in there was sent to me. And that, well… that made me more than just a little worried. I relaxed, just a little, when I saw who it was.

"Godric." I said slightly breathless. I knew in the back of my mind that this/he could be a possibility in the coffin, but now that he was in front of me here, I was at a loss of what to think. Godric had claimed me in Dallas, sure, but what did that really mean? Sure, we talked about it some in Dallas, but I sure as hell was still baffled by how it was really all going to go down. And now he was here, now, of all times to come. Did Eric call him to come quicker? 'Oh…. This is a whole nother layer of 'what the fuck' that I just didn't need on my layer cake from hell.' I thought to myself sullenly.

Godric smiled a small but sincere smile my way as Kelsey burst out with, "Oh my goodness, you're the sheriff, errr… I mean ex-sheriff of Area 9 in Dallas. My brother told me all about you. He really respects you and the way you led the area. He said everyone will miss you. It's really an honor to be transporting you." Kelsey was absolutely beaming at Godric, who looked at her with mild curiosity.

"Who is your brother young one, if you don't mind me asking?" Godric asked as he gracefully yet swiftly exited and closed the coffin.

"Tyler Collins. He's been under your jurisdiction for five years now." Kelsey replied with a smile she couldn't hide.

"I do know your brother. He's smart and loyal for such a young vampire. He didn't mention having a sister though." Godric said with a contemplative look upon his face. He was old, but certainly had his wits about him. He could remember what the grass smelled like in the Roman era. He knew that this vampire never mentioned human relations.

"Well, yeah, he wouldn't, at least not to the nest. No offense, but there were some members who he wasn't sure it would be a good idea to mention he had family." Kelsey replied, knowing that he would want some type of explanation why Tyler wouldn't mention her.

"Yes, well I did say your brother was smart. Those members, at least those who I suspect your brother was… hesitant… to share that information with, are no longer with us. They have met the true death." Godric said, thinking about Stan and those that followed him to their deaths at the Fellowship of the Sun. As much as their deaths disturbed him, he couldn't deny that their inability to evolve, to believe in the value of human life, led to their demise.

"Oh…umm… I'm sorry?" Kelsey said, feeling like she should say something, but not really sure as to what.

"Don't be child. It was time for them to go." Godric replied as he then turned to look at me again. "Eric informed me of your situation. I am here to help." Godric said in such a sure and commanding way that I almost felt like he could just up and save the day. Unfortunately reality came just as quick and slapped me upside the head. Just how was he going to do that when Maryann crushed Eric in under a minute, tops?

I knew that I had to get Kelsey and Jason out before we talked further, so I said, "Kelsey, now that Godric's out of the box is there anything else you need to do here?" I didn't want to come across as rude or seem like I wanted her gone, but we needed to get our plan started.

"Oh, yeah. Here, let me get the paperwork out of my bag…" She started to say as she rummaged through her bag to find what she was looking for. "Here it is. Ummm Godric, I just need you to sign here and here…" She said as she handed the paperwork and a pen to Godric, pointing out where his signature was needed. I looked down as he signed the paperwork, amazed at the artfulness of his signature, all loopy yet elegant and worldly. 'I guess when you live as long as he has, you have time to perfect things like your signature.' I couldn't help but think to myself.

After Godric had completed what she asked, Kelsey looked over the paperwork and said, "Okay, everything looks good here so my job is officially done now. Hey Arabella, I could gather from being sent to another room and the tense looks on everyone's faces that something's going on tonight and I'm totally cool with not knowing what that is. Trust me, I've learned from living with my brother that sometimes you just do not want to know. But, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this week. I have a lot of vacation time saved up and figured it might be fun to hang with you again since I'm already here and everything. But you know, if you're busy or whatnot…" She looked a little nervous about asking to hang out with Arabella, but the truth was she found it hard to make friends with people, especially once they found out the truth about her brother or her intentions. Arabella accepted her with no reservations, which was a first for Kelsey, so she really wanted to try to see this friendship grow. She loved her brother dearly, but she needed other friends too.

"Ummm, yeah… sure, why not? I'm probably going to need a girl's night out after tonight. Do you have a place to stay?" I replied, as the guys in the room now are looking at us funny.

"Oh yeah, the airline will get me a room wherever I want. They're very generous with their employees. I'll just get one here for the week." Kelsey replied excitedly. She was really looking forward to having some girl time. As much as her brother tried to be there for her, he was still a guy and didn't like doing things like shopping and mani/pedi's and the like.

"I can walk you down to the front desk Kels." Jason offered up right quick. 'Oh God, he's already using a nickname.' I thought to myself. I knew I'd definitely need to save her from his clutches tomorrow; that is if I was still alive.

"Thanks Jason, but didn't you tell the kids that you'd bring them back some deserts from the bakery in the lobby?" Kelsey said, effectively cock-blocking him herself. I knew she was a smart cookie!

"Ooohhh yeah… I did, didn't I? Well shoot, we can ride the elevator together then, I suppose." Jason replied, still trying to get some alone time to flirt more with her.

"Sure, why not." Kelsey said with a small laugh and a light eye roll. She'd dealt with worse flirts on the planes, deadlier ones; this wasn't anything she couldn't handle.

As Kelsey and Jason started for the door, I stopped them by saying, "Oh, hey Kelsey, it was really kinda hectic down there earlier because there's some convention here or something. Anyway, if they try to tell you they don't have any rooms available, just mention my name and that I would be very upset it they couldn't provide you with one. Okay."

"Sure. Thanks for the heads up!" Kelsey said as she reached for the doorknob.

"Hey… wait a minute guys, I need to speak with Jason for just a sec. You don't mind, do ya'll?" I said to everyone, but didn't wait for anyone to respond as I took a hold of my brother's arm and dragged him out of the room into the hallway to speak to him in private.

…

"What's up Arabella? You need me to do something tonight?" Jason asked with a hopeful look on his face. He really did want to help and that warmed my heart to no end. We were family and we would always be there for each other, no matter what.

"No, you being here with the kids and Lala and Tara, you know, being safe, that is the best thing you can do for me. I just… I just wanted to tell you how much I love you and…" I started to say, getting a little chocked up actually, before he grabbed me by the shoulders and cut me off.

In a stern voice he said, "Nuh uh Arabella; Don't you be doing this now. You listen to me and listen good. You are not going to give me some crappy goodbye speech, you hear me. You are going to beat that Mean-nad…"

"Maenad." I couldn't help but correct him; years of doing it at home prevented me from not doing it.

"Oh yeah, I know. I was just doing one of those there play on words things." Jason said sheepishly.

"Oh." I replied at a loss of something further to say, because I didn't know that Jason even knew what a play on words was. I hated to admit this, but sometimes I really did underestimate his intelligence. He may not be the brightest bulb normally, but he had his moments.

"Anyways, I will see you when this is all done and we'll laugh about it all, you'll see." Jason said as he enveloped me in a colossal hug.

"I don't know that we'll necessarily laugh about it Jason, or even talk about it for a real long time, but…" I tried to say, but it came out kinda muffled since my head was pushed into his chest because of the way he hugged me.

"Whatever. My point is sis that you are going to take that bitch down. Just look at you; you're a Stackhouse for Christ's sakes. You've got bad-ass written all over your face." He said as he released me from his choker-hold hug and looked at me with a goofy grin.

I couldn't help it, I laughed despite of myself. "Okay Jason. You win. I'm a bad-ass." I replied with a chuckle.

"Damn straight. You are the smartest bad-ass I know. Now I'm going to go back in there, get Kelsey and we'll take off. I'll see you later." He said the last part while pointing at me. 'He's really good at these pep talks.' I thought to myself as we both walked back into the room. Must be all those years of playing football…

…

"Hey Kelsey, you ready to go?" Jason asked looking expectantly at Kelsey, who was talking animatedly with Jesus. Evidently the cat was let out of the bag of his brujo status and she was bursting at the seams with questions for him.

"Oh, yeah, I guess." She replied sadly. It seemed that she really was enjoying her conversation. "Well, I'll see you all later then. Bye." She said as she and Jason, who gave a quick goodbye, walked out the door. It didn't escape my attention that Godric was watching her leave with an unreadable look upon his face.

After they left, Godric voiced what I had thought earlier, "She is… different." But he didn't explain further on what he meant by that.

"Yeah, I guess." I replied, but added quickly and with a smile, "But in a good way."

Godric had a guarded look on his face, but eventually nodded in agreement at my statement. 'Guess who's not an open book. Yup, that'd be Godric the Mysterious.' I thought to myself. It made me a little concerned though only because she left with my brother. But, if Godric thought she was a threat, I had to assume he would've said something. I made a note to myself to try to ask him about this later.

Switching gears, I said, "So, Eric called you to come tonight, huh? I guess that means he's judging that tini-bikini mud-wrestling contest after all."

Godric chuckled slightly at my comment, one, because it was unexpected, and two because that would so be something Eric would do in any other situation, but not this one. He knew that Eric would do anything to keep Arabella safe. This was evident in the fact that Eric asked him for his help; to make sure she had back up with this plan that her and her friends had come up with. If this situation was not happening now, he knew that his child would come up with millions of reasons for Godric to delay coming to Shreveport and Arabella, now that she was technically Godric's.

"He could only wish that to be so." Godric replied with a sad smile.

"Do you know why he can't be here tonight?" I asked softly. Part of me really wanted to know why he couldn't be here tonight, while the other part kinda didn't. Like the saying goes, be careful what you wish for… right?

"No, I do not." Godric replied simply, but honestly. Eric did not get into any specifics over the phone, which led Godric to come to several conclusions. First off, Eric's phones or place of business were probably being bugged. Secondly, whatever was going on, it wasn't good. Thirdly, either Eric himself didn't have all the information, wasn't ready to share it with him yet, or wanted to do it in person. None of this sat well with Godric, but he figured he'd deal with Eric tomorrow night. Tonight there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Then it could be a tini-bikini mud-wrestling contest for all you know." I said, trying to be lighthearted in my quest to find out why Eric wasn't here.

Godric chuckled lightly once again and said, "Even though I don't know what has his attention tonight, I can guarantee that it must be something he could not get out of. That being said, I can also guarantee that he's not off to judge inadequately dressed inebriated females sparring for superiority in a ring of muck."

I snorted aloud at Godric's description of mud-wrestling because I was pretty sure that if Jason was still in the room he would've had no clue that that was what Godric was describing. The way he described it sounded like it was a sporting event they'd talk about on the history channel. After I composed myself I said, "Fair enough. Well, let's get you up to speed then on our Maenad crisis then shall we." I knew there was nothing more to say about the Eric situation. So, Sam, Jesus, Godric and I all went over everything we could discuss concerning our plans for the night.

…

Eric woke up with a start as he heard his cell phone buzzing with the sound it made when he got texts. He grabbed his phone and saw that Godric had texted him that he had arrived and was with Arabella and her crew of misfits going over the details for tonight.

Eric took his hand and rubbed it hard down his face. He was completely pissed off that his Queen demanded his presence tonight when she knew damn well he was dealing with a fucking Maenad. He just didn't get it. While the Queen's behavior was always slightly eccentric, her behavior lately has been too impulsive, too reckless, basically just too plain dangerous for everyone involved and yet without any reasonable motivation or purpose that he could work out. It couldn't just be for money. No. Something else was going on, but what? Unfortunately, he knew that he was going to have to get it out of her tonight one way or another. He and the other sheriffs couldn't continue to have to worry about the Magister or worse, the Authority, breathing down their necks because of the shit she was making them all do. And for what? What the fuck was going on? The time had come for him to find out, and fast.

And of course the proverbial shit had to hit the fan when his Arabella needed him. He had already disappointed her and hurt her with his cruel words in Dallas, only to be followed up by his foolish betrayal with Sookie that she doesn't know about yet. And now, here he is yet again letting her down by not being there for her. Damn vampire politics! However, he knows that if he doesn't deal with this situation with the Queen now, he might never be able to help Arabella again. Vampire politics wait for no humans, even if they come in pretty little packages (or aren't exactly all human).

Pissed off to no end and needing to release the pressure building within him, he silently summoned Pam to come to his office.

Pam came in an instant, already dressed like a disco diva with a full on blonde crimped afro; it was 70's night at Fangtasia after all. "You rang." She purred, a bored expression on her face, even though Eric could see the worry in her eyes that he knew no one else could. She was good at concealing her emotions from the world, but she'd never be able to conceal them from him.

"Get me someone to eat, fast. Someone who won't be missed for the night." He said as he started to get dressed. He wasn't planning on killing anyone tonight, but he definitely was going to get his fill of blood.

"Of course. Be back in a jiffy." Pam replied in her 'Pamish' way and was off in a flash. She was glad that he was back to drinking the real stuff. It unnerved her to no end when he started actually drinking that True Blah crap.

While he waited for Pam to return with breakfast, he decided to make a few phone calls. He needed to get as much information as he could before seeing the Queen.

…

After we all had brought Godric up to speed we all waited with baited breath to see if he would have anything to add to what we knew or had already come up with. He was Eric's maker, so I knew that he had to be older than him, how much older, now that I didn't know. But, I hoped with age came knowledge.

Godric took in what Arabella and her friends had told him and had to admit, given the circumstances, it wasn't a bad plan. Contrary to popular belief, sometimes the best attacks were with the least amount of people, not to mention the element of surprise is always a plus. He honestly believed that the Maenad would never see this coming and that was maybe the only way to defeat her.

"I think you have a solid plan. Given my ability to fly, I believe that I can be of use in finding the best path for you to take in order to infiltrate the party with the least amount of obstacles. And I can keep track of what is going on with the ritual so I can instruct Sam when to appear in his bull form." Godric finally offered.

"That's it? That's all you got? I mean, you can't just go in there and kill her?" Sam called out, incredulous at the fact that that was all the vampire with them would offer to do. 'Probably doesn't want to get his hands dirty trying.' Sam thought to himself angrily.

"Unfortunately yes, that is about as much as I can offer at the moment." Godric replied calmly. He then continued, "While I am much older than Eric, you cannot discount that this Maenad is very old as well. And while I am very strong, I am not foolish or arrogant enough to not be able to admit that Maenads are quite powerful in their own right. Eric and Arabella have already witnessed how easily she can trounce even the strongest of us as if we were nothing but a minor nuisance to brush aside. I wish there was another way to take this creature down, however I do believe that deception is the best way. To attack her and her protégé outright would just end up with more mayhem and death for naught. She's too powerful and has outmaneuvered too many over the centuries to be taken that way. No, the deception you planned here, to make her think that her god has finally come, that will be her downfall. It will work."

There was nothing that Sam could say after listening to Godric's words, so he remained quiet, he just gave a breath in exasperation and a slight nod that showed that understood, regrettably, what Godric had said.

Knowing there was no point in putting off the inevitable, and also just wanting to end the awful silence that entered the room, yet again, I said, "Well, if there's nothing else, I guess it's time for Sam, Godric and I to go see what that bitch has done to my home. Jesus, just in case this doesn't end well…"

"No. Don't even let those negative thoughts enter your mind. You all will succeed. I can feel the good juju around you. You will be fine." Jesus said with a warm smile while enveloping me in a hardy hug. I needed all the reassurances that I could get tonight.

…

We couldn't believe our eyes as we finally crossed into Bon Temps. We were hesitant at first to drive there in Sam's well-known late model dusty blue Ford Bronco, but we all needed to get there and Sam's car was the only one we had at the moment. As it turned out, no one was out and about in Bon Temps tonight anyway, at least not on the streets. It was eerie, really. I mean, not that Bon Temps was ever a hustle and bustle kinda place, but there usually was somebody milling about. If we were in a western right now, you'd have seen tumbleweed blowing across the street like it were a ghost town. 'I guess everyone's already at Maryann's party.'

Driving into town we saw that the Welcome to Bon Temps sign had been redecorated with a huge penis drawn on it with the words 'Fuck Off'. Alarm bells were ringing from the various businesses on the main drag. Clothes were all over the road as well as other various items. We had to drive around someone's sofa that had been dragged into the middle of the street at one point. It was madness. It was horrible. It was unbelievable. But lastly, it was home, a home that we now needed to reclaim.

After talking with Sam and Godric about where the best starting point would be in Bon Temp, the three of us ended up driving to the old Buford residence, which had been abandoned since last year when old Mr. Buford died quietly in his sleep. The place was far enough from my house to not garner any attention but close enough to walk to mine without breaking a sweat. Just to be on the safe side though, once we arrived at the Buford place, Godric busted the lock on the garage and we hid Sam's car in there. There was no need to give any of Maryann's party posse a head's up that we were coming to get her.

As Sam busted the window of the back door with his elbow so we could enter the old house, Godric said, "The two of you should stay here for the moment. I will find out what I can about the status of the party."

Both Sam and I said, "Okay" knowing that Godric would use his vampire senses to locate the information we needed.

After Godric whooshed away, Sam turned to me and asked, "So, you ready for this?"

"No." I replied softly but honestly. Who would be for this? The Avengers or X-Men maybe? Ooooooh a Jedi! Yeah, those guys might be ready for this type of action, but Sam and I, a bar owner and waitress, yeah, not so much. My training was in wiping down tables and mixology for the occasional times I had to help behind the bar. Taking Down Supernatural Beings 101 just wasn't offered at my high school unfortunately.

"Me neither." He replied just as honestly, his voice just a little hoarse.

We both wanted to say something to break up the silence, both opened our mouths, only to close them again, but what was there really to say? Everything would work out in our favor, or it wouldn't. It was go time and no pep talk or sentimental words of encouragement were going to help us now.

I had thought about trying to say something nice to Sam, you know, just in case one or both of us don't make it out of this mess, but then thought better of it. As much as I didn't want to hear a pep talk right now, I also didn't want to say my last confession, sort to speak, right now either.

I also thought about texting Sookie. I had thought about it all day really, but never did. In the end I couldn't find the words to press into the little keyboard on my phone. How do you say I love you and goodbye to someone just in case you get killed, over a text? Siri's programmed to give lots of help for I-Phone users, but I think this was beyond even her level of expertise.

I was surprised though that Sookie hadn't called at all, but then again maybe I wasn't. She was with Bill on a vacation and he seemed to like to take away her phone when they together. He was really possessive like that. I know that some people would think that it was romantic, that he would want her undivided attention like that. Me though, I thought it was a little over-controlling and to be honest, somewhat creepy. It seemed to me like something that someone would do to someone they didn't trust. Why wouldn't he trust Sookie?

I then thought about the text I did get from Eric. It was short and to the point.

Heard you received my help. Sorry I can't be there tonight. Could not be helped. Don't die.

The last part of his text made me laugh despite myself. 'Don't die.' As if I could just will it so. I couldn't help but wonder what mess he was in tonight and if I needed to text him the same back. Instead I just texted back,

Dying wasn't part of the plan. By the way, thanks for the heads up about the special delivery. Don't you know diamonds are a girl's best friend, not coffins?

…

Godric returned rather quickly only to find both Sam and I lost in our own thoughts. He cleared his throat before speaking and jarring us out of our musings, "It's a rather impressive event. This Maenad is very powerful indeed, but with that often comes arrogance. And, arrogance often breeds a lack of attention to detail. I believe your plan will work very well indeed. Judging by the lack of any type of security detail, she is not anticipating any sort of opposition."

"Would she even need any type of security when she's mind-controlling the entire town?" I asked, curious for his response.

Godric was quite for a moment before finally replying, "Normally I would say no. However, you know her game. You know how to manipulate the town since you are familiar with these people. And your minds can't be controlled. I would say she would have been wise to have had some sort of security to keep you out."

It was my turn to be quiet for a moment before I responded, "Maybe that was never her plan; to keep us out. Maybe it's been her plan all along to get us in. She needs her sacrifice after all."

"Perhaps. However, she has to be able to find you first. I believe it's time now to disguise your appearance." Godric said with a small encouraging smile.

Sighing in acceptance that there was no going back now, I took out the make-up kit that Lafayette had gotten for me from my bag and began to work on my face, using blush to contour my cheeks to give them a different look, lots of dark eye shadow to make my eyes appear a slightly different color, and bright red lip stick which I never wore. To be honest, I almost looked clown-like at this point, but everyone was pretty fucked up in the town right now, so I figured I should fit in.

"Wow." Sam said in a surprised, but not 'geez you look good' kinda way but more in a 'whoa holy shit what happened to you' kinda way, when he saw my finished look. Godric just gazed at me with a slightly amused look upon his face.

"Yes, I know, not my best look, but do I look like me?" I replied touchily. I knew that if I walked around in a normal non-Maenad controlled town right now people would be wondering if I had a blind person do my makeup, but the whole point of this really was to just not look like myself.

"Actually no. With the baseball cap on and all that stuff on your face I'd definitely have to take a second or third look to know it was you." Sam replied.

"Then my work here is done." I said to Sam before asking Godric, "So Godric, how about you tell us the best way to sneak into this mess."

"Most of the party seems to be taking place in front yard. You should be able to sneak in from the back." Godric said with confidence.

"And did you happen to see the girl who we showed you a picture of before?" I asked Godric, wondering if he was able to get an ID on Daphne. Luckily Sam had a picture of her on his phone. I felt bad for him though when he pulled it up because try as he may, the pain he felt was plain as day in his eyes.

"No, I did not. She was not outside. There were a few people inside the house though. If she is as important to the Maenad as you think, then she was probably in there." Godric replied.

"Okay, well, then I guess I need to go find her myself and get this party really started then." I said as I grabbed the bag filled with Daphne's clothes and Jesus's switcheroo potion. "Godric, you'll be watching so you know when to send Sam to the party in his bull form, right?" I asked just to make sure we were all on the same page.

"Of course young one." Godric replied simply.

No longer being able to avoid what lay in front of me, I took a deep breath, grabbed my bag of tricks and then the doorknob and said, "Okay then. Here I go. Wish me luck."

I however didn't hear if Sam or Godric said anything as I hurriedly opened the door and walked into the unknown. I was afraid that if I didn't barrel ahead to do this now, I would lose my nerve and just hightail it outta here. And I couldn't do that. Too many people's lives were at risk if I did that. The eeriest part of that though was that they didn't even know it.

…

As I walked quickly through the yards of the houses that led from the Buford's residence to mine, I remembered my childhood and how Sookie, Jason and I would run though these yards playing hide and go seek and tag and the such. Now tonight, I was playing a much more dangerous game, one in which I wasn't sure if there were even any rules.

The closer I got to my own yard, the more destruction I saw around me. There were a couple of burned down sheds, trees that were broken in half, random garbage strewn about. This was just the yards I was walking through now. The damage that we saw driving into town was by far worse and definitely more disturbing. When everyone wakes up from the spell that Maryann put them in, they're going to seriously wonder what the hell happened.

As I continued to walk, there was an occasional straggler from the party, like Big Otis, who was just passed out drunk lying on a broken lounge chair in the Fontaine's yard. And then there was Sally Garnier and Tim Little bumping uglies in a patch of what I could've sworn was poison ivy. 'Wow, that's gonna feel really bad tomorrow.' I thought to myself as I chuckled lightly. It wasn't funny, but it kinda was. They always made snide remarks about me and my sister and left shitty tips when I worked at Merlotte's. I guess Karma is a bitch.

It didn't take long before my house came into view. My eyes grew large and my heart sank as I took in the sight before me. My house. My gran's house. What once was a beautiful southern farmhouse now looked like a completely dilapidated crack house. 'How?' 'When?' I couldn't even formulate a complete thought at the moment because I was so overwhelmed by confusion and hate and anguish and who knows what other emotions. 'How dare those bitches do this to my home, MY HOME!' I thought as I started to angrily march towards my house.

Thankfully, a little, and I mean really little as in I almost didn't hear it, voice in the back of my mind piped up and said, 'you need to reel your emotions in or you're gonna get yourself killed.' So I stopped, took a breath and started to saunter instead towards the ruins of our family home.

As I got closer to my house and the party there were more people milling about with their eyes black as night, like Tara's were, turning to catch who the 'new girl' walking to the party was. I knew what had gone on in Tara's mind and felt bad for everyone here. I could only hope that no one would remember what went on after all this was done. For now though, I had to get their attention off of me. Thinking quickly, I took the bottle of vodka out of my bag that I planned on hopefully using to get Daphne to drink the switcheroo potion and pretended to take a huge swig. Then I started to add more of a drunken swagger to my walk. I also made sure to pull my baseball cap a little further down to hide my eyes a little better. I didn't know what would happen if someone noticed that my eyes weren't black like theirs were. Thankfully the people who had turned to see who I was now went back to their current activities of screwing random partygoers, rolling around in and eating dirt and grass, and other various displays of fucked-up-ness. As much as I wanted to help my town, I didn't know how long it would be before I'd be able to look some of these people in the eye again after seeing some of the fucked up shit they were doing at my house tonight.

I was heading towards the back door of my house wondering if the front of my house looked just as bad as the back. If the back of my house was any indication, then the front probably looked even worse. It took everything within me to not break down at the sight before me. Mud pies and lord knows what else was thrown all over the siding of my home. The paint was chipped off, by what or whom I had no idea. Some of the siding was actually torn off in places. Then there were the dead vines that somehow grew up the sides of the now greyed exterior. Garbage was everywhere and if I wasn't mistaken, I believe there was even blood on the ground and the side of the house. And because of all that, my once beautiful white-sided house now looked it was the next stop on a haunted houses tour. 'What god would want this as his tribute? And why the hell did it have to be my house? The Bellefleurs have a much nicer house that this bitch of a Maenad could've destroyed.' I couldn't help but think as I grabbed the handle to my back door, breathed in deep and prepared myself for what I would find on the inside my house.

As I walked into my kitchen, I saw the mess that I would no doubt have to clean up after the Maenads were taken care of. Food was all over the floor and walls. My grandmother's family heirloom china lay broken in the sink, on the table and on the floor. The refrigerator door was open and I could see a gallon of milk laying on its side on one the shelves dripping the last of its contents onto the floor. The same vines that were growing dead on the outside of the house were also on the inside walls as well. Dirt replaced the linoleum checkerboard floor. The smell, uurrghh, the smell that hit me when I opened the door nearly made me vomit upon first whiff. The man that was sitting on the countertop eating what I hoped was raw sausage and not what it really looked like didn't help matters either. Thankfully he was so engrossed in that sausage that he barely paid me notice. Maybe the bottle of vodka I still had in my hands helped with that a bit.

My Gran lived and died in this house and now as it barely stood it was exactly opposite of everything that she was. It was the ultimate betrayal of my Gran's life, defiling her memory and disgracing what was left of her legacy. I was almost raped in and killed in Dallas. Eric hurt me deeply with his words in Dallas and Godric ended up claiming me as his. As hard as that all had hit me, this almost felt worse because this was my home, my family's home, the one place where I could always go to feel safe and secure from the worlds woes and now it was gone for the moment. My safety net was gone.

Anger quickly rose in me, but fell just as quickly once I reminded myself that these people, friends and acquaintances that I grew up with, weren't themselves. I couldn't take their actions personally because none of them even knew what the hell they were doing and none of it was done on purpose, except on the part of Maryann and Daphne. 'Why is there so much wrong in the world? How could something like this happen?' I couldn't help but think to myself. I didn't know if it was because they were weak, too weak to fight off this kind of evil but I did know one thing; I wasn't weak and I sure as hell wasn't going to let fear keep me from kicking some evil Maenad ass out of my Gran's home and out of our lives for good!

Before I could get any further into my house, I felt a pair of hands grab at my ankles, causing me to jump in surprise. "What the hell!" I yelled out without thinking.

I looked down to see what or rather who had grabbed at me, only to find the coroner, Mike Spenser, was the culprit. 'Great, just great.' I thought to myself with an eye roll. He was one of the biggest pervs Bon Temps had to offer on a good day.

"I've never seen you 'round here before sweet thang. Why don't you come on over down here on the floor and introduce yourself to my cock?" He said while trying to pull me down to the floor.

'Oh for the love of all things good and holy, I surely don't need this right now.' I thought to myself before saying, "As much as I would like to introduce myself to your cock right now, I can't because… because… oh because you're a disgusting pig." I replied in a hushed voice, but with venom nonetheless.

Mike, unfortunately, didn't take my not so subtle rejection well and started to shriek loudly, making the man with the sausages do the same. It sounded like they were an alarm. 'An alarm. Oh shit! To alert Maryann!' I thought to myself before I quickly lowered myself to the ground and started to rub his back saying, "Shhh, shhh, it's okay, I'm right here, it's okay."

"Yeah, it is now, isn't it? You know, you smell good, real good." Mike then said as he guided his (what I unfortunately didn't realize until now) naked body to spoon with my thankfully clothed one.

"You don't; not one bit." I said nearly gagging at his pungent smell. God I was going to need the mother of all showers when this was done.

He ignored my comment about being not so fresh and said, "Makes you feel alive, don't it, being in the presence of death. The old woman who used to live here was killed right over there. You should have seen all the blood on the floor and on her. Magnificent." Mike's comment nearly brought me to tears thinking about my Gran and I sincerely hoped that what he just said was not his real thoughts.

I knew I had to ignore his comments though and respond while thinking of a way to get out of his grasp, so I said, "Well, you'd know more about that being the coroner and all."

"Not as much as the granddaughter of the dead woman. You know she lets a dead man put his dead pecker in her. It ain't natural. It ain't right." He replied indignantly.

I knew he was referring to my sister, who everyone in Bon Temps knew was dating Bill at this point. It made me mad though. I knew that most of the town felt the same way about Bill and Sookie, but what did they know. He loved her and she loved him. And from what Sookie had to say about it, his 'dead pecker' worked just fine, in fact better than fine and probably better than most of the live ones in town thank you very much. So I responded while eyeing the sausage man, "Well, I don't think anyone here is in any position to talk about what's natural or right, don'tcha think?"

Mike just laughed in response and started to kiss the back of my neck with sloppy wet kisses that made me throw up in my mouth a little. I needed to get out of his grasp and out of the kitchen. I needed to find Daphne.

An idea flashed into my mind quickly. "Hey Mike, you know, speaking of doing unnatural things… what do you think about you, Mister Sausage over there and me doing a little ménage a trios?"

Mike looked at me for a moment like a deer in headlights. Then it dawned on me as I rolled my eyes. "A threesome Mike; how would you like a threesome?" 'And he's supposedly had more education than me. Idiot.' I thought to myself.

"Oh… OH! Yeah! That'd be great, wouldn't that Mosby?" Mike said towards Mister Sausage like they just hit the jackpot. Mister Sausage grinned widely, showing off all the bits of sausage in his mouth. I think I threw up a little in my mouth, again.

"Well, you need to let me up then so I work you both up." I said, hoping he'd take the bait.

Mike immediately released his death gas grip on me and let me get up. As soon as he did, I grabbed the first weapon I could find, a wrought iron skillet, and hit him hard over the head. I quickly did the same to Mister Sausage before he could sound the alarms again by screaming. They'd wake up with big headaches, but if that was the worst for them, they got off easy.

I grabbed my bag and bottle of vodka and headed out of the kitchen to see if I could find Daphne. 'I'll check upstairs first.' I thought as I walked towards the stairway.

My heart sank as I saw the further destruction to my house. There were scratch marks all over the walls, the wallpaper was ripped and paint was scratched off of the trim and doors and there was more mud everywhere, or at least what I thought (or rather hoped) was mud. Looking up my staircase which once housed some of our family's most treasured pictures in a collage, I saw that they were all broken and smashed along the stairs, as if none of it ever mattered. I bent down and picked up the broken frame that contained the picture of Gran, Sookie, Tara and I, all smiling big for the camera. We were so happy back then. A tear fell down my check, causing my bad makeup job to smear down my face. I wasn't too worried about it though. It just made me fit in better now with all the crazy running about. I quickly put the frame down before anyone could catch me reminiscing.

I knew I had to push past all the anger and revulsion I felt right now to stay focused on the task at hand. Letting my emotions take over now would just get me and maybe everyone else here killed. So, I put on my big girl panties, sucked it up and continued up the stairs.

When I got to the top of the stairs I saw a man come out of Sookie's room wearing, or at least trying to wear one of her sundresses. "Too much?" He asked while doing a little twirl, revealing that he thought it was no panties Friday and that he was really excited about it if you get my meaning. The man, who had to be about 6'4", also seemed to be competing with me for worst makeup job of the night.

"Way too much." I replied while I took a sip of vodka from the bottle I continued to hold. I think I earned it.

The man just shrugged his shoulders as if it were no big deal and sashayed past me down the stairs. 'Oh, he'd give Lafayette a run for his money, for sure.' I thought with a small laugh.

I moved to the first room on my right, Sookie's, and looked inside. Lying on the bed was the biggest egg I had ever seen in my life sitting in the middle of a nest that was decorated with ribbons and bows. 'What the hell?' I thought to myself before another voice, a familiar voice entered the room. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Oooooh, look at that bootie. I bet you know how to use it too. I know I would love to show you that I know what to do with it." Daphne said, surprising the heck out of me because I had no clue that she swung that way. 'Oh poor Sam!' I thought, 'He's broken up about her as it is. He definitely doesn't need to know about this.'

Despite being completely taken off guard by Daphne's flirting, I couldn't believe my luck at her coming to me instead of me having to continue to look for her, and so quickly too. However, I now needed to get her to drink the switcheroo potion. 'And she just handed me a way to do it.' I thought to myself as I turned around to face her with a smirk upon my lips as I caressed my breasts. It was then I noticed that while everyone else had them black alien eyes, but she didn't. I had to hope that she wouldn't notice that I didn't either. As luck would have it, she appeared to be staring more at my cleavage as I played with my breasts than at my face. Maybe the clown makeup job had something to do with it.

Daphne, obviously happy with my touching myself, continued, "Yeah, you dirty girl, you know just what to do with that body, don't you." She slowly walked closer to me, licking her lips as she did, and placed her hands at the sides of my waist. Then she brought them up my body, bringing them to rest on my breasts finally. I was disgusted at her touch thinking about her eating that poor woman's heart, but I needed her to believe that I was into this if I was going to get her to drink the potion. Between Pam touching my breasts while on our shopping trip and Daphne here, I must be the most touched non-lesbian by lesbians in Bon Temps.

I nearly jumped out of my skin as she started to play with my nipples. But as disgusted as I was by her, I needed her to buy that I was into this. "Ummm, that feels good." I murmured, as I believe I threw up in my mouth a little for the third time tonight. I really was going to have to brush my teeth good and hard tonight.

"This is perfect you know. Maryann says that fucking in front of the egg will bring a symbiosis of the celebration and the god. Wait here a sec. Let me go get my strap on and I'll come back and fuck you good and hard." She said as it took everything within me to not have my jaw hit the floor. If I thought Arlene's kids were getting an education during this Maenad situation, it turns out so was I.

As enlightening as this all was, I was not about to let this Maenad tramp go and get her strap on, so I stopped her by saying, "Before you do that, let's have a drink." She looked at me intrigued while I pulled the purple colored potion out of my bag. "You see, I got this hear purple drank from Lafayette. You know he knows his shit about drugs. Anyway, he said that he put in this here drank all sorts of those you know penis pills in here. Said that if a female drinks it she'll have an orgasm that will rock her world and then some. Only trouble is, you have to drink it at least ten minutes before you fuck, or it doesn't work as well. Needs to be in your system a bit or some shit like that. You up for the best orgasm of your life?"

"Fuck yeah!" Daphne said enthusiastically.

"Okay, well, I don't have enough to share with the world, so let me close the door first." I said, wanting to have privacy to do what I needed to do.

"Go ahead. I want you to rock my world baby!" Daphne said as she sat down on the edge of the bed waiting for me to continue.

I quickly shut the door, thankful that she was not suspicious in the least. Turning around to face her once again I said, "Okay, here's what we need to do. I'll drink half the purple stuff and chase it with a swig of this here vodka and then you do the same. And then baby, it's on!"

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get this started." Daphne said eagerly with a wink.

'Here goes nothing.' I thought as I drank half of Jesus's potion, praying to God that it would work. I then took a quick swig of vodka, because honestly I could use some liquid courage right about now.

"Here. Drink it quick. I'm horny as hell." I said to Daphne so that she'd drink the potion before I started to change. I had to admit; the potion didn't taste as bad as I had thought it would. You know, you always hear of potions in books that use things like eye of newt or slug intestines or some gross stuff like that. This potion actually tasted like red bull. Go figure.

"Oh yeah. I'm horny as hell too. Give me that." Daphne said as she grabbed both bottles from my hands and drank each with gusto. "Not bad." She added as she too thought it tasted pretty good.

I started to worry after we both drank the potion how she'd react. I certainly didn't need her screaming like Mister Sausage and Mike did in the kitchen, alerting everyone that something was amiss. And so, I decided that I would have to knock her out as well. Looking around the room I couldn't help but be annoyed at how frickin girly Sookie's room was. Everything was fluffy and flowers, well it was all dirty and discolored now due to Maryann's decorating choices, but there wasn't anything useful to knock someone out with. 'Fuck!' I thought frustrated, that is until I saw the wood plank that was propped up against the wall behind me.

"Why don't you come here and let's get started some before it kicks in." She said to me with a come hither look on her face. Evidently she forgot about wanting the strap-on.

"Why don't you close your eyes and I'll surprise you with something big and long and hard." I said in as seductive of a voice as I could muster given the circumstances.

"Ooooh, I'd like that." Daphne said as she closed her eyes and began to touch herself.

I rolled my eyes at the sight, grabbed the wood plank, quickly walked over to her and hit her over the head with it. I had to hope that my hit was hard enough to knock her out, but not enough to kill her. In order for our plan to work, she needed to be alive.

Thankfully, I didn't kill her. She started to get a big bump on her noggin, but she was out cold and still breathing. Yeah me! It was while I was making sure that she was still alive that I noticed her start to change. I also began to feel the change myself.

'Okay, this is it.' I thought as I quickly grabbed my bag and put on Daphne's clothes from Sam's place. I also grabbed the wet towelettes that I had stashed in there and began to frantically wipe the makeup off my face. I threw the baseball cap into the bag to hide it, just in case anyone would recognize it from earlier. After that was all done, I went over to Daphne, who now looked exactly like me and froze for a split second. It was just too freaky to see her lying there looking like an exact replica of me. I then turned to look in the mirror above the dresser and saw my reflection now looked like Daphne. I let the moment go just as quick and made haste in getting her out of the clothes she was wearing and put on the ones I had on before, throwing the olds ones under the bed. Just as I finished, there was a quick knock at the door and then before I knew it, Eggs walked in with his black alien eyes.

"Maryann wants you downstairs with the egg, right now." Eggs said in a robotic voice. I knew from my experience with Tara that there was nothing of him right now in that body.

Before I could respond, Jane Bodehouse appeared behind him, holding what appeared to be her severed finger in her other fingers as she started singing, Lo Lo Bromios and the rest of the chant to the tune of Row Row Row your boat. She stopped for a moment when she saw me staring at her finger and said, "It's the perfect present for him. He loves presents." And then she turned around and left singing the chant again. Sometimes there are just no words. This was one of those times.

Refocusing on the task at hand, I turned to Eggs and said, "I'll take the egg, but you should take this present to her." I pointed to the out cold fake me on the bed.

"Arabella? You got Arabella! Maryann will be so pleased. This was just the sacrifice she was hoping to get." Eggs said practically bursting at the seams with happiness at the thought of sacrificing, well, sacrificing me.

He quickly walked over to the bed and lifted Daphne bridal style off the bed.

"After you Eggs. While I know that Maryann wants the egg asap, she'll be more happy to see her sacrifice first." I said as he clearly was waiting for me to walk out of the room with the egg first. Maybe it had to something to do with Daphne's statue as a Maenad in training or whatnot. It really didn't matter to me what position Daphne had. I needed Eggs to go first because I didn't know where Maryann was right now or where this stupid egg needed to go.

He nodded eagerly in agreement and walked out of the room with Daphne. I quickly grabbed the egg and followed him. As it turns out, Maryann was at the front of my house placing raw meat and fruit onto a big Y structure made from twigs. The raw meat was making the macabre art piece smell something fierce and there were tons of flies flying about it. 'Great, one more fucked up thing to clean up around my house.' I thought as I followed Eggs to Maryann.

"Now where is my egg?" Maryann said while looking at the large Y. She turned to the bald man standing nervously beside her and said, "Karl, you told Eggs to retrieve the egg didn't you?"

"I believe he has just brought it as well as with a special surprise." Karl responded with a large smile and pointed to us as he saw Eggs and me appear.

Maryann turned and saw us approach, a large smirk of her own now appearing on her own face. "Well now, I do love surprises, don't I Karl? Especially ones like this one." She said as she walked over and pushed a piece of hair off of Daphne's face. Jesus's potion seemed to do its job because she didn't seem to be any wiser that it wasn't me.

"Splendid! Just splendid! Oh this night is going to be perfect after all Karl. Oh my, I must get dressed! Daphne, come with me. We need to get ready for the ceremony!" Maryann said giddy as a schoolgirl. "Quickly, give the egg to Karl and let's get our dresses on. Eggs, get Arabella onto the cross! The time is quickly approaching!"

'Oh joy.' I thought at the prospect of playing besties with this bitch. But I played the part and quickly handed the egg to Karl and followed Maryann into my house.

…

Maryann led me upstairs to my room. To say that I wanted to beat the shit out of this Maenad would be an understatement, especially after I saw the condition of my room. She had literally turned my floor into some sort of distorted garden with dirt and dead flowers and old rotting fruit everywhere. I was beginning to think that I may just have to burn the house down and start from scratch. I really didn't know how it could be cleaned and fixed, or even if I wanted to at this point.

Not only was my room a complete disaster, there were three very dirty people fucking in my bed. If nothing else, I definitely was going to burn my bed.

"Get out and find Jane Bodehouse and Misty Watson. Tell them to come here. I need my bridesmaids now!" Maryann yelled at the trio who quickly disentangled themselves from one another and ran out of the room to do her bidding. Thankfully I wouldn't have to watch to them any further to see who got a happy ending.

"Oh where did Karl put the bags?" Maryann said as she looked around my room. I just stood in place, still pondering what she meant by 'bridesmaids'. 'Who the hell was she marrying?' I wondered to myself.

"Here they are." Maryann said relieved as she found some brown grocery bags in my closet. She took the bags and placed them on my now really soiled bed and began to pull out some white dresses. "This one will be perfect for you Daphne. Just perfect." She said as she handed me a white silk Grecian style dress. While normally I would have thought the dress was beautiful, now I just thought it was a means to an end.

"You're awfully quite Daphne. Our god will come tonight. Aren't you excited?" Maryann questioned, a look of hurt upon her face that her sister in arms wasn't as excited as she.

'Oh shit!' I thought, 'what am I going to say now?' I had to quickly think of something to say. "Oh I am Maryann. I am so frickin excited I'm bursting on the inside. But… I'm scared that he won't think me worthy of his attention." Oh God I hoped this placated her.

"Don't be silly Daphne, he will love you. I know it. I can feel it. This is it. This is the time that he will come." Maryann said as she pulled out the final dress out of the bags, my Gran's wedding dress.

I gasped as she held it up against her in horror. How dare this bitch use my Gran's wedding dress for something so vile? Hadn't she done enough to my family and this house?

"I know, it's not the dress I would normally have chosen, but it's one that felt lots of love. It will do nicely. My husband will enjoy tearing it off of me." Maryann said with a wink as she began to change into the dress.

'Who the fuck is she marrying?' I thought to myself again as I forced myself to get into the dress she chose for me. As the both of us were dressing, Jane and Misty entered the room.

"Well, it's about time my other bridesmaids showed up. Hurry! Your dresses are on the bed. Now get into them and get presentable. It's not everyday you bear witness to someone marrying her god." Maryann said as she pulled out two garland wreaths. She then placed one on her head and one on mine. "Perfect." She said after she stepped away from me and took my appearance in.

'Holy fuck, she thinks she's marrying a god. What a delusional bitch!' I thought with a snort. And while I always thought there'd be a wedding here at the house, I always envisioned it being one of us Stackhouse's being the ones getting married and not some supernatural slut with horrible decorating skills.

Luckily, Maryann thought my snort was directed at Jane, who looked a fool as she drunkenly tried to put on the dress Maryann gave her backwards.

"You fool! It goes the other way! Oohhhhh! Just turn around." Maryann yelled at Jane as she then tried to get the dress on the correct way.

I just stood there and waited to see what the next wave of crazy would bring.

…

I noted as we, meaning the bridal party from one of Tim Burton's dreams, walked out of the house and towards the make shift altar, that the Maenad loved her candles. There were probably hundreds of them all over the place, casting an eerily romantic glow on all the dirt on the floor and broken picture frames, and sullied furniture in the house. Outside some of her minions had strung Christmas lights around to create a similar effect.

"Oh it's been such a long wait." Maryann said to me, looking both nervous and excited, kinda like a virgin about to give it up.

"How do you know for sure that he'll come this time Maryann?" I couldn't help myself from asking the question. She seemed so sure that I was actually a little scared that the god may actually just do that and show up, thereby fucking up our plan to off the Maenad. Wouldn't that just be my luck?

"No time's been more perfect now that I have my special sacrifice. She is the vessel. I just know it. There's no mistake this time." Maryann said as she looked happily at me, well actually at Daphne who looked like me. Thankfully Daphne was still passed out. "Her heart is the food of the gods. How could he not come? It is the very thing that gives him life."

"Of course. You're right Maryann. How could ever doubt that?" I said sickeningly sweet to her as she smiled sweetly back at me.

We were broken away from our conversation as odd music began to play. I say odd because I didn't recognize it at first, but as it played on I realized it was actually a wedding march played at half tempo, which made the already strange event seem even more odd, if that was even possible.

"It's time. It must begin." Maryann said as she positioned me and the other bridesmaids to start the proceedings.

Maryann then walked over in front of the make shift altar and began to speak. "Everyone, the time has come." Her voice was authoritative and loud which gained everyone's attention.

People started coming forward in droves to witness the sacrifice that was supposed to bring forth this god who evidently is into all things fucked up. They all had crazy smiles on their faces. It was like I was looking at a group of people who just got let out of the nut house.

"Let us call forth our god." Maryann continued while raising her hands in the air. "I need the sacrificial egg. Bring it forth."

The guy who Maryann had called Karl before came seemingly out of nowhere walking forward with that huge egg on a padded pillow. I couldn't help but wonder what the hell laid that egg. Did Maryann lay it? As crazy as it would normally sound, right now, anything seemed possible. Hell I would have believed that Mike Spenser laid that egg right now. None of what was going on seemed real.

Maryann gently picked up the egg off of the pillow and walked before us bridesmaids saying, "Lick the egg."

'Yeah, I'm really going to have to brush my teeth extra hard tonight and use extra mouthwash.' I thought, as I had no choice but to lick that god-awful thing. Thankfully it didn't taste like anything, my hope was that someone washed that thing good. Hopefully. It took everything within me to not spit right there and then.

After the egg was licked to Maryann's satisfaction, Karl carefully took it back and placed it faithfully into the nest on the big Y structure.

Maryann smiled when he was done and then began to chant, "Hail Dionysus!"

Everyone began to repeat her words, "Hail Dionysus. Hail Bacchus. Hail Bromios. Hail Eleutherios. Hail Dendrites."

"All these names are yours bull horned god on this occasion of our marriage." Maryann continued with her ceremony. As she did though, I saw Daphne begin to groggily stir behind her on the cross. 'Oh shit! This isn't good.' I thought to myself.

Maryann continued her entreaty while spreading out her arms in front of the Y structure. "Our offering symbolizes the rebirth of Dionysus. When he was a child, the Titans, jealous of his greatness, ripped him to shreds, eating all but his heart. His sister Athena, in her most valiant act of love, miraculously saved that last beautiful piece of him. She cunningly placed the vital organ into the womb of their mother so he could be reborn. Oh Great Mother, you shall soon have a worthy heart that will make your womb grow ever fertile again. And in that fertile womb our bull horned god Dionysus will come and stand in your place."

Maryann then turned and walked towards the waking Daphne, who began screaming, "What the hell Maryann? We were supposed to bring the god forth together. I'm not supposed to be up here!"

"Oh Arabella, you were always supposed to be up there." Maryann said with a fake comforting look upon her face.

"Arabella? What are you talking about? Did you finally take too many damned pills? I'm Daphne!" Daphne screamed at Maryann in my voice and with my looks. It was during her tirade that she finally caught a glimpse of me, well me looking like her. "How? What did you do? That Daphne over there is an imposter! She's the one you want, not me!"

Maryann looked over at me, but I simply put on smirk on my face and said, "Don't you think that would be something someone would say trying to get out of their fate?"

Maryann smirked back at me, turned around to face Daphne again and said, "Yes. That is exactly what they would say." She then continued with her ceremony, ignoring Daphne's pleas and screams to the contrary. "At long last my love, I have found the true heart to bring you back at long last." She may have thought she found the right heart, but I could feel my own heart beating like it wanted to burst out of my own chest. I was beyond relieved that she bought my bogus lies.

"You know Arabella," Maryann continued to speak while she cupped her hand tenderly on Daphne's tear-stained cheek, "you're lucky. Everyone wants his or her life to mean something, to be something bigger than just a mundane existence. You my dear, you giving your life here tonight is the epitome of greatness. So few ever get to realize it." Maryann then took a dagger that Eggs had brought over to her, raised it over Daphne's heart, said "Thank you" and plunged it into her chest.

While everyone else hooted and hollered in glee at the act, I gasped in horror despite my attempt to keep my composure. Even though Daphne was one of Maenads we planned on killing, it wasn't real until that moment and I felt guilt, overwhelming guilt. I knew I shouldn't, that if Daphne wasn't stopped that she and Maryann would continue on their whirlwind tour of chaos, mayhem and murder, but I still felt the guilt. I had worked with her at Merlotte's and even though we weren't necessarily friends, we were friendly. What also didn't help in this situation is that she looked like me when Maryann stabbed her. It was supposed to be me. I set Daphne up. And there, hanging on a cross in front of me was a version of me dead. It was almost too much to bear.

Maryann looked at me, confusion in her eyes, because I should have looked joyous. I knew I should have looked like the best thing in the world just happened. But before I blew my cover, I saw a white bull approaching: Sam. 'Oh thank God!" I thought as I pointed to the bull that was walking behind Maryann. Maryann turned and gasped herself when she saw the sight.

"Oh my love, you've come! She was the vessel!" Maryann exclaimed in ecstasy as she started to walk in the direction that the bull/Sam was walking. I quickly followed suit while thankfully all the other attendees to this ceremony began to dance and kiss and basically party, oblivious to the true purpose of the ritual.

Sam was able to lure Maryann far enough away from everybody else so that we would the only ones to see whatever happened next.

"My lord. My husband. Oh you've come. I'm here my love." Maryann whispered as she walked up slowly towards the bull and began to pet Sam's head. "We're together at long last. Come to me." She then backed away from Sam while raising her arms out to the sides above her head.

Sam, still in his bull form, walked towards her, lowered his head, but then quickly raised it thereby impaling her in the gut with his bullhorns.

She had let her defenses down the minute she thought her god had appeared, so the wound she had in her gut was real, but it didn't kill her. "My god, am I the one to be sacrificed? Am I the vessel? Yes, yes! I'm happy to die. I am yours! Take me!" Maryann said as she struggled to stay standing.

Sam backed away from Maryann and shifted back into his human form, taking her and me by surprise, he was completely naked after all. Anger and confusion flitted across her face. "Was there no god?" She sputtered out.

Thoughts flashed through my mind fast as lightening as I panicked thinking we have to finish this. How do we finish this? Then it dawned on me, her heart. Everything about her ritual and her killings was about the heart. We needed to get to her heart.

Before Sam even thought about moving I ran up to Maryann and plunged my hand into her chest and pulled out her heart. I started to breath heavily and scream wide-eyed as the reality of the fact that I just pulled someone's heart of out there chest sunk in. I dropped the organ to the ground as I saw Maryann's face turn into something akin to the Cryptkeeper. Her whole body turned grey and black veins appeared looking like vines all over her. She then fell to the ground, now finally dead.

Godric arrived just in time to see the Maenad fall over dead. He was proud of his young human who just took out a centuries old supernatural creature, one that even his thousand-year-old progeny could not. She truly was something special. He noticed however that she was not handling the situation well. She was having a panic attack from what he could gather from his knowledge of human emotions. As both he and Sam tried to walk over to Arabella, they watched as she suddenly went from panic attack to scared shitless. Her eyes started to look all over her body as it began to emit a bright white lights from her pores. To Sam and Godric it looked like the light of Heaven was beaming out of her. And before they knew it, she was completely engulfed in that bright white light and then she was completely gone.

Sam looked at Godric wide-eyed, unable to process what just happened. "Wha…" He started to try to get words out, but couldn't.

Godric just stared at the spot where Arabella had been just a moment ago. As old as he was, he'd never seen anything like that, ever.

And so, they stood immobile. What were they to do now? The shifter and the two thousand year old vampire both stood there at a loss. What happened to Arabella?

…

I'd like to hear in the reviews what you think happened to her.