The planning stage seemed to last forever. Someone would come up with an idea, only for someone else to point out a major flaw or two. We had a lot of power on our side, with Russel and Bartlett's assistance, possibly some of Stan's people, although that wasn't a definite, Alcide's pack and a majority of the vampire's in Eric's territory. As for the rest of Louisiana, Arkansas and Nevada, we didn't know who would side where. Although as Pam pointed out, not everyone will be at De Castro's compound when we attack. We cut off the leaders head and those that don't surrender will join him soon after or flee the states. Eric wanted to get Rasul, one of the vampires from the former Queen's regimen, back from where ever he was serving as a spy in time for the inevitable show down. Also discussed was who would inherit Nevada, as Arianna would only take Louisiana and Arkansas so as to re-establish the divisions. The most logical solution, in our best interest, was to give it to a vampire that already resided in Narayana, yet also have someone we could still trust (to an extent; I'd learnt not many vampires could be fully trusted, particularly in politics). It provided us with a very short list. I was unable to offer any names, and none of the few mentioned sounded familiar except for Verity Jane, Pam's occasional fuck buddy.

The problem was that we weren't sure how many would side with De Castro. We hoped that it would only be the ones that had displayed open acts of loyalty, which weren't that many. However there were also those who feared him and wouldn't turn on him because of that factor... at least, not while he was still undead. I thought of Heidi, who'd been sent as a spy to Eric's area and was held by the threat that her living son could be seriously harmed. She'd shown signs of changing allegiance, Eric offered good protection after all, but despite being a vampire, she was still a mother to a human and would do whatever it took to protect him.

And then there may be some out there that actually prefer De Castro's ruling.

"What if..." I began, "what if we don't have a plan?" The vampires looked at me like I had sprouted a second head. "I mean, if De Castro was expecting a takeover, wouldn't you at least think there was some kind of tactic? A battle plan? But something this big, when has it ever gone fully to plan? Is organised chaos really worth it when once we are in its going to be chaos anyway? We'll need spies to check out the perimeters of where we attack, and have people cover all the exits, but apart from that, we could just swarm in. We have a large, diverse army on our hands. It will be a demonstration of brute force yet our numbers also show the loyalty our side has already built. Arianna will need that to show that while she may have the body of a child, she's not one to mess with."

Arianna frowned, "That still sounds like a plan to me."

"Fine, it's a plan without having properly constructed a plan then."

"I still like the idea of uprooting a tree and staking De Castro with it," Pam huffed.

"Arianna has to have the kill on De Castro but I guess if you have access to a tree you could still do it," I said.

"So we plan a time and place and all swarm in at once from every angle?" Russel clarified.

"Yup. For all the planning, that's what it always amounts to in the end anyway."

"You are right Miss Stackhouse, if we stage an upfront attack that's exactly what will happen. But that will not minimise the losses on our side. We need ambush."

And, yet again, we were back to the drawing board. Just when you thought one idea was going somewhere, someone would disagree.

This went on and on in a pointless loop. They may all have strong political minds, gained by power, but there strategy ideas clashed. When I thought I could take no more one of Russel's men in black entered the room, making a beeline for his King.

"Sorry to interrupt sir, but our location have been compromised, sir," he said. I took a peek into his mind; human, ex-military, has a young family, liked the pay check and benefits the job gave him.

Russel stood up in a flash. "Who?" he demanded.

"We haven't been able to identify that yet but we have already dispatched several people to find out. They aren't human. Security is currently being tightened."

"Damage?"

"Your guests have had their tires slashed."

"I want to personally review the camera set up in bedroom two by the end of the night. We need to make hasty leave. Eric, Sookie, Pam; retrieve any belongings in your car and transfer them to the Jeep in the garage. Arianna, go with them. Drive around for an hour, muddle your scent trail, and then meet at the Autumn Woods Memorial Gardens for further instruction. Bart and I will be there."

There was a flurry of motion as we all went into action. I didn't know what Russel and Bartlett were going to do but it wasn't my business really what they did in Russel's state. Although it would only take an idiot to not realise that they'd be doing something productive against the breach.

I climbed into the front seat of the Jeep, with Eric driving. Arianna and Pam took the back seat. I had a brief moment of wondering if Arianna would need a booster seat- then I reminded myself that she was a vampire and even if she was thrown out of the car through the windshield and wrapped around a road sign she'd still walk out of it with as little as a scratch. In the context of things, it was a silly thought.

Eric reversed and spun the car out of the driveway so quick that I had to hold onto my door handle so that I didn't go sliding around in my seat. "Eric, human," I reminded him.

"I never forget," he said with a lot of weight.

I knew where this was going, "Eric, I'm not completely fragile. Yes, a lot of things that would kill me you could survive but there are so many times that I could have been gravely hurt but I haven't. I've been bashed, staked, raped, bombed, shot, kidnapped, tortured and bitten, I've been run off the road and multiple people have tried to kill me, but I'm still standing here and I'm still fighting and have the scars the prove it. I could have broken or run off scared but I haven't, and I have no plans in doing so. And now I have Hunter, I plan on making I stick around much longer. I'm thinking my actions through a lot more because he cannot lose another adult in his life."

Eric sighed, "I know that, you're one of the strongest humans I've ever had the privilege of knowing."

"Damn, this is like animal planet crossed with MTV," Arianna interjected. "I like you Sookie, and you make big bro look like a teddy bear. It's excellent."

Eric whipped around in his seat, baring his fangs, a low growl resonating from his chest.

"Eric, eyes on the road!" I reprimanded.

He did as I said, slowly. Arianna cackled, "Oh, I chose a wonderful place to come to. This is going to be great."

SORRRYY! Have been so busy and unable to update. But I have now sat all of my exams (10 exams, 3hrs10mins each, yuck) and have now graduated. Time is now on my hands :) I thought I was going to have to write a new chapter but turns out I already had this one ready, so I thought I wouldn't hold it any longer. I do need to go back and read my story so far though to get the muse flowing again, but I promise there won't be such a long gap again :)