A/N: See? Told you I hadn't forgotten. Just waiting for my muse to get back from her (apparently extended) leave of absence. Flighty bitch. Shh. Don't tell her I called her that.

Pam POV

We should have known that attacking Hallow's messenger would have consequences. Just because they didn't take place immediately didn't mean they wouldn't occur at all. And here they were: happening.

I had noticed being unable to feel Eric through our bond, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd blocked it. It wasn't until Godric showed up at the club that I felt the slightest bit of concern. The fact that his face was locked down as tight as Fort Knox was enough to freak me out. Godric was one of the oldest things in this hemisphere; he didn't care whether or not he displayed his emotions. That others might think him weak for it was a dangerous assumption on their part, and one he often used to his advantage. Wily bastard.

Godric appeared calm when he asked me about my bond with Eric, but there was a slight undertone of urgency. I wouldn't have picked up on it if I didn't know him. He told me to not mention anything to anyone – especially Eric. Godric would be watching over his child, and was able to protect him better than I ever could.

The two of them went home and left me to manage Fangtasia for the night. I closed early because I could, and that run-in with the stupid witch left me too keyed up to deal politely with any fangbanger bullshit. Not that I was ever really polite, but I knew I'd be rude, even for me. I made sure that all of the local vampires had gotten their chance to feed; as I saw it, that was the main reason for the club. I could give two shits about them, but if they went hungry and attacked any humans, then Eric and I would be the ones to clean up their messes. Fuck that. Keeping them fed wasn't done out of generosity, but selfish laziness.

If we had a coven of witches interested in taking a chunk out of us, they were going to be causing enough trouble without adding hungry vampires to the mix. I didn't think they'd be stupid enough to come back that same night, but I wasn't interested in hanging around to find out.

As Godric had explained it to me, Eric couldn't speak any language that was known to anyone in the room with him. When Godric himself was in the room, Eric would speak Icelandic – backwards. Sookie had managed to figure that out with a voice recorder. Fuck me sideways, that was good thinking on her part.

The timing on this was absolute shit. Eric was supposed to be taking Sookie to see Queen Sophie-Anne. Since he obviously wasn't able to go, Godric was going in his stead. His rights as a maker would override the Queen's summons, especially since they hadn't been an official summoning. It had been done through e-mail, for fuck's sake. If it were a big deal, she would have sent that simpering bastard Andre to collect them on the spot. I only hoped that bitch wouldn't press the issue.

With Godric and Sookie gone, that left me to deal with Eric's aphasiac ass. I would do anything for my maker, but that didn't mean I couldn't be a brat in his direction. He really did need to lighten up, or blow off some steam. I'd happily let him toss me around if it would help; it wasn't like he'd really hurt me.

I knew how to balance business and pleasure. Let the needling begin.

As soon as Godric and Sookie were on the road, I looked at Eric. "You don't think… Godric and Sookie…" I wiggled my hips for added effect.

He shook his head, but I felt like teasing him some more: he wasn't nearly riled enough. "I know he's not her type, but you know how he is."

Eric growled and glared at me.

Really there was no telling Godric's type. Since he looked so young, that worked in his favor just as often as it worked against him. Still, he was just as much of an opportunist as Eric, if not more so.

"And he does tend to lean towards the exotic. Remember that empath he had for a while? Now that was an interesting setup. She had quite the pain tolerance, if I recall correctly."

"Abbiamo più di cui preoccuparsi che la sua vita sessuale."

I had no idea what he'd said, but that didn't stop me. "He is partial to blondes, isn't he? I mean, even his new kitten is a blonde."

"Vaffanculo, Pam." Ooh, he even growled.

"You know what they say: abstinence makes the hard-on grow longer." I grinned. "He's abstained for what, 48 hours? Almost a record for him."

We both knew damn well that Godric had gone weeks without sex, if not months. He was old enough to contain any of his urges indefinitely.

Eric squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Pamela…"

It was never a good sign when he used my full name. I sighed. Time to get this witch shit sorted out.

Sookie POV

I didn't wake up until we reached the Hotel Monteleone. I'd seen enough pictures to know what it looked like in daylight, but at night it was downright spooky.

When we got out of the car, a bellboy brought over a cart to help with the luggage. Godric handed the keys over to the valet, and in short order we were ushered into a blindingly beautiful lobby. The marble floors were tiled in a way that almost resembled plaid; randomly, my brain pulled up a recollection of a red-headed girl I'd heard at Fangtasia. She'd spent hours ogling Eric, but that wasn't unusual in the slightest. The thing that made her stick out was that in her mind, she'd called herself the Plaid Avenger. I was used to Eric playing up the crowd, and the poor girl had gone slightly out of her head when he winked at her.

It's odd what the brain brings up when you're half awake and in strange surroundings. I took some deep breaths to wake myself up a bit more and scanned the lobby with both my eyes and mind. There were several vampires and humans present, but no one seemed to be taking any special notice of me and Godric.

We passed an enormous grandfather clock on our way to the check in desk. It was so tall, I had to be several feet away from the thing to see its face without hurting my neck. I grinned when it occurred to me that it was Eric-sized.

It wasn't until we were almost at the front desk that I recognized a familiar brain pattern. I hadn't felt it in years, but I'd grown up with it. Even with that familiar sensation in my head, I had to look twice to confirm it.

"Hadley!" I almost shrieked.

"Oh my God… Sookie?" I could hear her mind whirring; she wanted to run out and hug me, but she couldn't leave her position from behind the counter. It came as something of a surprise. As much as we looked like sisters, with our similar features and figures, we'd never been all that close. We'd barely spoken in years, but I knew she kept in contact with Jason.

"What are you doing here, cousin?" I asked.

She grinned. "I'm masquerading as an employee. Geez, what do you think I'm doing here, Sook? Question is: what are you doing here?"

"Oh…" I looked at Godric. "Um, I'm here on business. Godric, this is my cousin Hadley. Hadley, this is Godric, my… uh, Godric, what should I be calling you?"

"I believe companion works well enough in this particular context," he answered.

Hadley looked at Godric and instantly her brain filled with all of the wrong ideas. Godric snickered, which made me wonder if he'd picked up on her very graphic mental images of him and me. That, in turn, made me wonder if he'd picked them up from her or gotten them second-hand from me. While I knew he could hear and read me, I didn't know why; I knew he couldn't read Eric, but he'd never really clarified if he could read all humans, or if it was just me.

I blushed, which seemed to remind Hadley of who and what she was dealing with. Instantly, she started singing show tunes in her head. At least it wasn't Vanilla Ice anymore; I'd never understood her crush on him.

"It's not like that," I said to my cousin, "But we do need to get checked in. I have no idea what kind of time schedule we're on."

"We have time enough for a small family reunion," Godric said, "But perhaps at a later time in our stay." «You two can catch up during daylight hours, if it will not exhaust you. You need to keep up your energy to handle what we will be dealing with.»

«Seems fair enough. It shouldn't take much time; she and I were never all that close. This is just unexpected. We haven't talked in years.»

Godric took over the conversation at that point, giving Hadley all of the information we needed to get our reservations squared away. Since the room had originally been reserved for Eric and me, it was a room with a single king-sized bed. My luck being what it was, of course there were no other available rooms. I did what I could to stifle my embarrassment. Godric and I were adults; hell, he was freaking ancient. We could sleep in the same bed without it being sexual, right?

Then again, Eric couldn't keep his hands off of me when we were in the same room. Shit. Maybe I could sleep on the couch?

When Godric and I headed up to the room, I realized I was going from frying pan to fire. I knew he wouldn't push himself on me, and I also knew that I wasn't interested in doing any pushing of my own. Even so, aside from Eric, the only other guy I'd ever shared a bed with was my brother, and that was when we were still in single digit ages.

Our accommodations turned out to be an executive suite; there was an additional room with a sofa, much to my relief. There was no time to discuss sleeping arrangements.

"We have about twenty minutes to spare," Godric said. "You should probably change and freshen up a bit."

"I have no idea what to wear. What would you suggest?"

Godric quickly unpacked my clothes and gave them a brief glance. He handed me one of the formal dresses: a light blue, floor length gown with spaghetti straps. I frowned, thinking I didn't have enough time to do my hair and face to match.

I hurried into the bathroom with the dress. I washed my face, applied a quick bit of make up, and pulled my hair into a French twist. Once I was all set, I stepped out and saw Godric scrutinizing my appearance.

"No, wear your hair down."

"Isn't that a little less formal? I asked.

"You will be tempting enough without showing your neck to the Queen."

That bugged me; it reminded me that I was about to meet a slew of strange vampires. I was in unfamiliar waters, and there were sharks aplenty; Godric would be my only life raft. I quickly pulled my hair down and brushed it into place.

"All right, let's do this." I said. We were getting short on time. I'd never met any royalty before – vampire or otherwise – and I didn't imagine they appreciated tardiness.

It wasn't until we were back in the elevator going down that I noticed Godric hadn't changed clothes.

"Shouldn't you be wearing something more formal as well?" He was dressed in his standard linen tunic and pants, which always looked like pajamas to me.

He shrugged. "You and I go by different rules." «No more questioning me, Sookie. You cannot do that in front of any other vampires in New Orleans. Remember your place.»

Ouch. That seemed cold, but I knew what he was telling me, and I knew that it was for my own good. Time to put on the façade of the vampire's obedient pet. I let my arms hang loose at my sides and put a blank face on my slightly bowed head. As we left the elevator, I stayed just to the side and behind him. He'd be able to see me in his peripheral vision, just as Eric had when we were in Dallas.

As we passed through the lobby, I could tell Hadley was staring. Oh my God, she looks so different. And she's acting like his pet now. I knew those marks on her neck had to be his. She tried to deny it, but she's gotten herself into some kind of mess. She can't know what these vampires are really like in New Orleans. Sookie, if you're listening, please be careful.

I flicked my eyes in her direction and tried to smile as subtly as possible. I couldn't see her reaction, but I heard her relieved thoughts. This wasn't the time to explain; it occurred to me that if she and I did get time to catch up, I might not want to give full disclosure on the situation. There was no way for me to know who she was friends with here, or what sort of information could be glamoured out of her. It gave me a twinge to have to keep my own cousin in the dark, but it was necessary.

The car was waiting for us outside; whether it had stayed there or been brought back, I wasn't sure. It didn't really matter. As the bellboy opened the car door and helped me into the car, I found myself thinking about other things.

Can't read him, must be a vampire. But she's too tan to be one, why can't I read her? God, she has nice tits. I'd like to… oh shit, she's staring at me like she heard me. Did I say that out loud?

I shook my head at him and his eyes got wide as dinner plates.

The bellboy closed the door a little hard, probably out of shock, and we were soon back on the road.

"Godric, we might have a complication. There's another telepath in the hotel."

Translations:

"Abbiamo più di cui preoccuparsi che la sua vita sessuale." - We have more to worry about than his sex life.

"Vaffanculo, Pam." - Fuck off, Pam.

Disclaimer: All of the characters contained in this story are property of Charlaine Harris. I don't own them; I just like to play with them a bit.