For a brief moment, Alice forgot where she was. She assumed that the person with their arm locked in place over her waist was Eric.

Only, if Eric had been there in the night, a cool breeze would have tickled her awake. It was too tricky for him to stay, and it would cost her a lot of tin foil if he did.

The room was pitch black, too.

She rolled over in the dark and felt up the arm that was holding onto her. It didn't feel like Eric - it wasn't Eric. They felt smaller.

Godric.

Suddenly, it all came rushing back to her and she wrestled out from under his arm. In her rush to do so, she accidentally managed to fall off the other side of the bed with a loud thud as she landed on her side; primarily, her hip.

Alice didn't even have time to focus on the fact she was hurt because of the knock on the door. Struggling as she stood up, Alice switched on the bedside table lamp and then limped over to the door while her leg recovered from the fall.

She opened it to find a woman she didn't recognise; brown hair, brown eyes, almost hopeful. About the same size as her.

"Are you… Miruna?" Alice asked tentatively.

The other woman almost looked relieved. "Godric did mention me."

"Briefly, but we knew about you before all this anyway… how long have you-"

Miruna grabbed Alice by the forearm and pulled her out of Godric's room abruptly, practically dragging her down the hall.

"In my room," she explained. "I've been here long enough that I get left alone."

Alice couldn't do anything except nod quite dumbly and allow Miruna to drag her down to her room in silence. Once they were inside safely - with the door locked - they both were able to relax. Miruna let go of Alice, who then surveyed the room. It was lived in, almost homely; Miruna had definitely done the best she could with what she had and what she could get.

A record player sat on one of the bedside tables, a shelf next to it lined with aged vinyls, all bright and colourful and very much from the seventies. The wardrobe was pretty much overfilling, and the bed was a little unkempt. In fact, the moment Alice laid eyes on the bed, Miruna went and straightened it out and gestured for Alice to sit, so she did. There was a moment of silence before the Eastern European spoke.

"I know too much. About you, about Eric, about Godric… and there's no suitable end to this unless Russell dies," she said bluntly, joining Alice on the bed. The redhead wasn't sure how to respond to that, but it gave Miruna more of a chance to talk. "Do you know how brutal Godric was? Before he became the way he is now?"

"I can only imagine. He raised Eric, after all," Alice said.

Miruna nodded in approval. "Good. Because Godric will need to become like that again so you and I can be safe. It's the only way."

"How do you know so much about Godric?"

"I… accidentally looked into his past instead of his future. I can do what we do without the need of touch. I'm too good, and sometimes I get ahead of myself. Timelines mix up." She shrugged. "All the same, it was useful."

"He wouldn't hurt me, would he?"

Miruna shook her head with a smile. "He would never. The same goes for Eric, but you don't seem too worried about him turning on you."

"Eric's blatant. Godric isn't. You can see why I'd be more worried about Godric. I've had enough of people pretending they're nice when they're not." There was an edge to Alice's voice on the last statement that made Miruna rethink asking her about it.

"Wise," she settled for. "You can't get hurt that way."

Alice shot her a wry smile. "That's the plan." She paused for a moment. "I have questions."

"Go ahead. We have our privacy until the sun goes down."

"Is there anything else to this? Seeing the past, seeing the future… it makes me wonder if there's more to it."

"There's one thing I discovered by accident," Miruna said. "It's inconsequential and serves no purpose, but you can share memories of yourself. It's an interesting extra."

Alice frowned. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Have you ever been unable to talk for whatever reason, but you need to tell someone something important?"

She had to try her best not to laugh. "If you knew about the anxiety and panic attacks where I wished I could show people what triggered them, instead of telling them."

Miruna seemed satisfied with the answer. "There you have it. Do you want to know how to do it?"

Alice drew her lips into a thin line, uncertainty crossing her face. She had her doubts, of course - who wouldn't? - but there was a chance here for her not to be hit with surprises further down the line. By the sound of it, that seemed to be the final thing she needed to know about.

Miruna shifted closer to her. "It - it can be used for good as well as bad. Just like the rest of what we can do."

"That's… that's what bothers me about all of this."

"And you think it doesn't bother me?" She raised an eyebrow in response to Alice. "Of course it does. Do you think I enjoyed working for Russell? I never knew anyone here - I still don't - and he's over three thousand years old. My chances of fighting this were slim."

Alice's jaw dropped at that bit of information. "He's - he's older than Eric and Godric combined?"

"How old are your ones?"

She scoffed. "My ones. Funny. One's a thousand, the other is about two thousand. We're speaks of dust compared to him, aren't we?"

Miruna nodded. "Indeed we are. Now. Want to see how it's done?"

"I - I guess."

"Okay. Give me your hand - don't worry, just… just block it out." Miruna offered out her left hand, and Alice took it with her own. "Now place your other hand on the side of my face - fingers touching my temple."

Alice cast her an odd look as she followed the instructions. "And you found out about this accidentally?"

"You'd be surprised. Okay. When I do the same to you, I'm going to show you something. It'll be brief, I promise, but it might shock you a little when I do it."

Only a little fearful, Alice shut her eyes as she saw Mirunas hand coming towards her face.

She jolted when it made contact; not just because she was being touched by the other woman, but because of what she saw too. It was fast, simple, and pretty much over as soon as it had started, but Alice could clearly see Miruna talking to Godric.

Either way, Alice was left unsettled when they let go of each other, and she moved away from Miruna to get a little breathing space.

"So I have that to deal with as well?"

The look she was given was akin to one of pity. "Yes. Why are you so scared?"

"I came here to run away from problems, not gain more." Alice got off the bed and started pacing up and down the room.

"What happened?"

Alice took a deep breath. "In the simplest terms, I had an extraordinarily awful boyfriend. I was with him for four years, one of which we lived together." How this was easily coming off her tongue to Miruna surprised her; then again, she was with a woman right now. "In that time he belittled me a lot, was extremely controlling, he cheated on me a few times, and sometimes he'd hurt me physically. That was more the tail end of the relationship. I think he knew I was planning to leave and did everything he could to keep his grip on me - literally, in some cases."

"I'm so sorry."

Alice waved her off, and stopped in her pacing to face Miruna. "It took me two months to plan everything with my sister to help me leave. I was… I was so terrified when I got here. I wanted to keep to myself, and then I piqued the curiosity of Eric. Which was… good and bad. Good because he… he tries his best to look out for me. He cares about me, which is an odd concept for him. I didn't expect myself to fall into bed with him so quickly after the past year, but I felt safe with him. Genuinely safe for the first time. The only bad thing is that vampires who aren't as good as him are sniffing around us."

"We're a rare breed, Alice, of course they'll sniff around," Miruna said sadly. "But you're lucky to be friends with two of the most powerful vampires to exist. You're lucky to have them protect you."

Alice sighed. "I think at this point, what I have with Eric extends beyond friendship and… I don't know how I feel about that. Even though I only left Michael two months ago, I was still with him for four years."

"You can't help who you fall for. It's-"

"What if I'm confused?" Alice interrupted, tears in her eyes. "All of what I have with Eric is just because I'm confused because I went from a mess into something with the first man who showed me human decency for the first time in a year? What if this is all… fake?"

Despite Alice's current emotional state, Miruna couldn't help but smile. "I think the fact you're questioning the reality of it means you know you're not confused - you just don't want to believe that he might actually be good for you in the long run. Tell me this, Alice: when did you fall out of love with… Michael, was it?"

"A good… eight… months ago… okay," she sighed, somewhat in relief. "I was - I was only trying to love him just because I was with him."

"And now what about Eric? Do you love him?"

"I - I might do. I don't know. Probably," Alice sniffed, wiping away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. "This isn't the time for me to be talking about this. Not now."

"But you'll never talk about it otherwise. You clearly have a lot of love to give - it wasn't used properly for a good chunk of a year," Miruna pointed out. "And you want to give it to Eric, don't you?"

"You say you know too much, Miruna, so tell me if it's worth it? Please just tell me that even through all this horrible stuff happening now, me loving Eric is worth it?"

"I don't think you need me to tell you the answer to that one, Alice."

With those words, Alice managed a small smile and sniffed back more tears.

"Okay."

"Come on, we need to eat. And I also saw you eyeing up my records earlier…"

It appeared as if the minute the vampires rose, they wanted Alice to go speak to Russell immediately. Well, more accurately, Russell sent some wolves to collect Alice so that he could speak to her. Miruna tried her best to come along too, but she was made to stay in the room. Alice could only look back helplessly as she was manhandled downstairs and into the study.

Ornate, old, and with a comforting fire burning next to two sofas, Alice could have felt at peace in there were it not for the fact she was a captive in a vampire's home. Russell appeared to be quite pleased to see her, and gestured for her to sit on the sofa opposite him. She did so nervously, smoothing out her skirt as she sat down.

There was a heavy silence as Russell surveyed her for a very long moment, before he leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees.

"Tell me, Miss Carter, why is Godric so hell bent on protecting you?"

She was taken aback by the question, as it wasn't one she expected. She stammered, briefly, but then managed to actually get her words out. "He's my friend… and - and I'm not very good at protecting myself."

"See, Mr Compton told me something interesting…" Russell tilted his head to the side. "He said that you belong to Eric Northman?"

"For my own protection," Alice insisted. "And Mr Compton should really not be talking about matters that aren't his business…" A flash of courage struck through her as she said that, and she raised an eyebrow at Russell.

"No attachment to Mr Northman?"

"None," Alice said evenly, hoping that he would buy the lie. "He and Godric have become very good friends of mine-"

"It's your word against Mr Compton's here," he cut across her. "He says there is attachment."

"Friendly attachment-"

"I thought Mr Northman didn't have human friends."

"Well, maybe I'm different."

"That you are," Russell smirked. "How much do you know about yourself?"

She'd definitely made a mistake in using the word 'different,' that was for certain. Her shoulders sagged in defeat ever so slightly. "Not enough."

"You lack control too, I presume?"

Alice nodded, and Russell sighed.

"Pity," he said. "You would have worked so well with Miruna. Although I suppose she could train you… have you been practising at all?"

"I try to in my own time," Alice said, trying to avoid bringing up Eric or Godric again. "But I've lacked that in the past week or so - I'm assuming Mr Compton told you about Dallas?"

"That he did…" he trailed off, a faraway look coming to his eyes as he clearly mulled over something in his mind. From what Alice could gather from his expression, Russell wasn't trying to scheme; if anything, he was trying to put together all the information that he had.

"Hey, here's something interesting for ya," Russell then said, his tone taking on something cheerier as he relaxed back into the sofa, throwing an arm over the back of it. "Did you know that your friend is selling vampire blood?"

Alice had to keep her breathing even, her heart rate steady; she couldn't give away the fact that she was about to tell a rather big lie to one of the most powerful, oldest vampires she had met. He was already seeing through her; she had to be careful.

"It's not him. It's Mr Compton."

In one quick movement, Russell had Alice pinned down on the floor by her next to the fireplace. She struggled against him despite it being no use, and it was beginning to get difficult to breathe.

"If I were you, the next words that come out of your mouth better be the truth, Miss Carter," he told her through gritted teeth. "Mr Compton has told me everything - he is a guest in my house, he has done nothing but tell me the truth since the beginning! I know you love Mr Northman, I know that he definitely feels something for you more than 'friendly attachment,' and I know that Godric would do anything for you or his progeny."

She clawed at his hand around her throat, but it wouldn't budge. She was at the edge of consciousness now, and it was getting harder and harder with each passing second to concentrate on his words.

"Now tell me - because even though Mr Compton has been so forthcoming, I'm still curious - what do you know about Sookie Stackhouse?"

Shocked by that question of all things, Alice didn't know how to answer.

For all that Bill had done, selling her out still hadn't saved Sookie from Russell.

Despite the situation Alice was in now, the best she could do was try and cover for her friend.

"N-Nothing."

Now it was Russell's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"I wish you hadn't've said that."

More or less ready to blackout, Alice was glad that Russell loosened his grip on her neck.

Except he grabbed her arm and swung it into the fire.

Her hand and forearm were burning as he kept a tight grip on her upper arm, and oh how she screamed. Alice hadn't known a pain like it before, and she could only watch with a morbid curiosity as the flames licked at her arm while she cried.

Then it was over.

Russell had stood up and tossed her away from the fire where she lay helplessly on the ground.

"I don't take kindly to liars in my household," he said, stepping over her and heading to the exit of the study.

As he opened the door, Godric on the other side of it, being held back by four of the Weres outside. Russell allowed him to be let go, and he sped inside and dropped to the floor next to the sobbing Alice.

The door shut with a click, and they were both grateful for the privacy.

Godric lifted Alice into his lap, being careful not to touch her severely burned arm as he held her. She clutched at his shirt with her good hand as her cries wracking her body relentlessly, and she tried to contain an anxiety attack; that much was obvious as it became clear to Godric that Alice wasn't sure the best way to breathe. At least she was trying.

Unable to provide comforting words for the time being, Godric dropped fang and bit down into his wrist before offering it to Alice. He wanted to heal her, but it seemed as if she was in no fit state to be taking blood from anyone.

Then all of a sudden, her cries subsided and she fell limp in his arms.

He frowned down at her, because Alice wasn't unconscious.

In fact, she appeared to be in some sort of daydream and almost as if she were calming down.

She glanced up at him, and said one word - the only word that would have made sense for her to suddenly be in the state she was in now.

"Eric."

Sorry for the long wait again! Good news is I also have most of the next chapter written, so that should come about a bit quicker.

So yeah, you have vague details about Alice's previous relationship, and a bit more of a friendship striking up between her and Miruna. And yep, Russell is going to get his arse handed to him Soon, don't worry.

Thanks for all the support as per usual! I would reply to individual comments but I'm v exhausted from comic con this past weekend rip me ;_; just wanna go to sleep rn haha.

Comment?

-OL.