Layla had barely reached the graveyard when she suddenly decided that if things were ever going to get better for her, something had to change. Maybe she had been passive aggressive. Maybe she hadn't been aggressive enough. But in either case, she was done with just walking away. She turned and began walking swiftly back towards Sookie's. She may have taken Eric and Alcide. She may have taken back her house. But she was sure as shit not going to keep her tv and her new microwave. There were also a myriad of hair products, and photos and other things she had amassed just sitting in the house that she wanted, including a straightening iron she had been given as a christmas gift from Janice, and the jewelry Alcide and Eric had bought her.

Layla ignore Bill and Eric and walked right into the house. She heard lip smacking coming from upstairs and cringed. Eric and Bill zoomed in quickly behind her.

"What do you guys want?" she asked and then gave a knowing, mocking smile. "Oh, is someone else playing with your favorite toy?"

Ignoring them as they followed her up the stairs she paused as she saw Sookie vomiting all over Alcide's feet. She crossed her arms and flashed a very smug smile.

"Alcide, you sure know how to treat a lady." Eric said sarcastically as he and Bill stood behind Layla in the doorway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Layla went about the house throwing things into a empty box she had grabbed from under the stairs, she tried to ignore Bill and Eric as they sobered Sookie up, but curiosity kept her close by. If they had any news on Russell Edgington she wanted to know about it, and if Sookie got to know then she got to know.

She was currently grabbing some of her favorite coffee mugs out of the cabinets as Eric and Bill were talking to her about bringing back the memory of Alcide's security guard from the parking garage.

"That was a Maenad spell. I've never tried to un-glamour someone." she said, taking a sip of the coffee they had made her. "Where were you guys anyway? We were worried."

"Clearly." Eric said dryly. Layla tossed him and look and he glanced at her sideways.

"Alcide's employee is the only person who can identify who freed Russell." Bill reminded Sookie gently.

"I don't want Doug mixed up this bullshit." Alcide said defensively.

"He got mixed up in it when he got glamoured, Alcide. No point in trying to protect him now." Layla said flatly as she buried her head in a cupboard reaching for a frying pan.

"You fangers bring nothing but trouble and death." Alcide said roughly.

"We don't need your permission, wolf." Eric told him.

"Russell has been underground for over a year. It will take him a couple of days to recuperate and as soon as he does he will be straight out after us on the hunt." Bill said firmly, turning in his chair to look at Alcide.

"Cause you didn't kill him when you had the chance." Alcide reminded him.

"They showed mercy." Layla said defensively, propping her hands on her hips. "It backfired. Shit happens."

"Stupid fucks." Alcide growled.

"What did you say?" Bill snapped.

"You heard me." Alcide countered.

All three men descended into childish arguing. Layla, who had been rummaging under the sink now sat back on her haunches and stared. When did this devolve into petty high-school drama of who slept with who, and who's the tough guy? Did everyone seem to forget that there was a three thousand year old Vampire on the loose?

Sookie began to laugh quietly. Layla realized that despite the coffee, she was probably still pretty drunk.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she said as the men turned to stare. "I just keep thinking, that if I make the right choice all this madness will end and my life will go back to normal, but, it's not gonna end, is it? This is it. It's not gonna change." she said, glancing at Layla. "We say goodbye, and the next thing, you guys are back in my house and a three thousand year old Vampire wants to suck my blood. Must be Thursday!" she said, standing up.

If Layla hadn't hated Sookie so much she would have laughed and agreed with her, and it only made her hate the girl more that she had ruined their friendship beyond all possible repair. They could have talked about how much it sucked to be stuck in this way of life, but how there were good sides too. They wouldn't have had to be alone in it all, but Sookie had ruined it.

The blonde tugged on her jacket. "Well, come on! What are ya'll waiting for? Onward into the jaws of death! Boot and rally." she said, walking out the door.

All three men stared and Layla gave a little laugh.

"Have fun, boys." Layla said, lifting her now heavy box and placing it on the kitchen table.

"You're coming." Eric said firmly.

"Don't tell her what to do." Alcide said. Layla shot him a glare.

"Don't speak for me. I'm mad at you." she told him and he at least had the courtesy to look embarrassed before walking out the door.

"There's no reason for Layla to go." Bill said as non-chalantly as he could.

"If she does not come with us she will be unprotected." Eric reminded him.

"I can protect myself." Layla said, but she had barely gotten the words out when she found herself slammed up against the wall by her throat.

"Oh, yes. You are woman. I hear you roar." Eric said, slowly releasing her.

"Eric!" Bill snapped. As Layla's feet reached the ground she reached up and slapped Eric hard across the face.

"I am not some kind of goddamn ragdoll you can throw around!" she screamed at him.

"Do not lay another hand on her." Bill said, coming to stand by her side. Eric looked between them unhappily before walking out of the kitchen and into the yard.

"Are you alright?" Bill asked Layla. "Is 'everything' alright?" he added with a pointed glance towards her abdomen.

"Fine." She said, running a hand through her hair. "He's not going to stop until I agree to come with him."

"You don't have to do what he says." Bill reminded her.

"No, I want to go with you guys. I just don't want him to think I'm doing it because he asked me to go. I don't trust any of you to tell me the truth, so I have to go find out for myself what the fuck is going on." Layla said, striding out into the night with Bill right behind her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They reached the parking garage and walked in to meet the night security guard.

"Doug, this is Layla and Sookie. Sookie, Layla, this is Doug." Alcide said by way of introductions. Sookie shook his hand while Layla held back and gave a little wave.

"Well, what can I do for you folks?" the man asked.

"Uhm, would you mind terribly if I took a little peek inside your head?" Sookie asked sweetly. Doug agreed reluctantly and they all went and stood by the site where Russell had been exhumed. Layla found herself standing between Bill and Eric as Sookie held Doug's hand and asked him questions, though he said he didn't remember anything.

"I was takin' my break, like always." he was saying, but Sookie was communicating the things in his brain that he couldn't remember.

"Someone's coming up to him." she told them.

"What did they look like?" Bill asked.

"It's blurry, I can't make it out." Sookie told them.

"What does it sound like? Silent? Heavy boots? High heels?" Layla asked. She knew he own heels had a telltale clicking noise when she walked.

"Heels." Sookie said. "It's a woman."

Bill glanced back at Layla approvingly and then looked over her head to Eric.

"She's digging Russell up with her hands." Sookie continued. Doug was starting to look nervous. "Wait. She has a necklace. A pendant. Like a spider or a bat?"

Bill looked again at Eric. "A female member of the Authority released Russell." Bill took a step closer to Eric. "Did you tell Nora that we buried Russell alive?" he asked.

"No." Eric said.

"Nora?" Layla asked astonished. She had heard about Nora. She was Eric's sister, another progeny of Godric. Part of her had always wanted to meet her. Eric had told Layla about her one late night they had spent in New Orleans a few months ago, talking about their families. Eric neglected to mention that this sister was a member of the Authority.

"I don't believe you." Bill said.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that." Eric replied smoothly.

"You said you and Nora share everything." Bill challenged.

"Not that." Eric said firmly.

"You couldn't keep your mouth shut now she's using Russell against us!" Bill hissed.

"That's absurd." Eric told him. "Nora risked her life to free me. And you too."

Bill walked away and Layla glanced up at Eric. He looked down at her and she saw the faint traces of uncertainty in his eyes.

XXXXXXXXXX

Layla sat in the back of Alcide's van with Bill and Eric, who were still discussing Nora.

"What if Nora orchestrated this whole thing?" Bill asked. "She pretended to save us so she could send us to Russell."

"Why would she do that?" Layla asked.

"Russell could be a powerful ally to her cause." Bill told them. "Though he'd never agree to do it for free, but if she were to serve the two of us up to him then she'd be in a position to negotiate with him."

"Yeah, well, that's not what she did." Eric replied calmly. "She tried to get us out of the country."

"No, that's what she said she was doing." Bill said.

"You're just being paranoid." Eric told him.

"Then why is she still alive?" Bill asked. Eric sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I don't know, Bill."

"She's a traitor and a liar, just like her brother." Bill said. Eric's fangs snapped out and Layla suddenly spoke up.

"Enough! Bill, take it back! You don't even know if that's true and it's unfair to say. Eric, control yourself." she said, chiding them like they were children. Might as well get used to doing that. Bill said nothing and Eric didn't move.

"Take it back." Eric demanded. Bill was about to say something when his cell phone rang. He spoke and Layla found herself rubbing Eric's back in an attempt to calm him down, but as soon as she realized what she was doing she quickly took her hand away. Old habits die hard.

"Yeah, they're glowing." Bill was saying into the phone. Layla glanced between them.

"Uh, what the fuck is that?" she asked, pointing back and forth and the glowing red lights underneath both of their shirts.

"We don't have much time." Bill said as he hung up the phone.

"Well, about how much time do you have?" Layla asked him firmly.

"Until dawn." he told her. As soon as the van stopped Layla, Eric and Bill hopped out from the back, all three of them carrying long wooden stakes. They joined Alcide, Sookie and Doug at the foot of the front steps of what looked like an old abandoned hospital. Layla cringed. She hated creepy abandoned hospitals. Alive, active hospitals weren't so bad, but creepy, haunted old ones were things she liked to stay far, far away from.

"They took Russell inside." Sookie said.

"Of course they did." Layla groaned.

"We don't have much time, we should split up." Bill told Eric. "I'll take the North wing, you take the South."

"Even at full speed it's a lot of ground to cover." Eric told him.

"Sookie, Eric and I would like to thank you for getting us this far but we'll take it from here. Stay outside with Doug, Alcide and Layla." Bill told her.

"Fuck that." Layla said.

"Yeah right." Sookie added.

"We don't have time to worry about you." Eric said.

"Then don't and I'll worry about myself. Besides, if you're so pressed for time and I know you are you'll need another set of eyes and a pair of feet." Layla told them.

"Besides, I've seen enough scary movies to know you don't split up when it's a big, scary asylum and there's a crazed killer on the loose." Sookie said.

"Wow, for once I agree with your logic." Layla said dryly, walking into the building while Sookie rattled off some more reasons why she should go. Alcide sniffed the air behind her as they walked in.

"Wolves have been here." he told them.

"They come with Russell." Bill said. They all were following Sookie, leading them down the path of Doug's forgotten memories. Something made a noise and they all jumped, well, jumping for the Vampire's means their fangs pop out...Layla was embarrassed that hers had as well. It turned out to just be a rat, which seemed harmless, until they realized the rat was chewing on a severed human hand. Alcide tried to keep Doug calm, but the man was borderline hysterical.

Behind a curtain there were dozens of rats feasting on a pile of dead human bodies.

"Good lord in heaven." Sookie said.

"Seems like we're in the right place." Eric noted coolly.

"Unless there's another crazed murderer camping out here." Layla added.

They went deeper into the hosptial and there was a loud bang. Bill and Eric stepped forward, fangs out while Alcide growled.

"We're being watched." he said.

"I can't do this." Doug said. "Holy shit cakes. I'm so fucking sorry, but this is crazy!"

The man took off down the hallway. Layla took after him and so did Sookie. That guy was their freaking map. She was in no mood to wander around a creepy hospital all night. As he turned into a room Layla did too and there was screaming. First Doug and then another man hung from the ceiling wearing a strait jacket. He wasn't the only one. There were a bunch of humans, dangling there like meat on hooks. The boys came in right behind them. Eric walked forward and clamped a hand over Doug's mouth, silencing him.

"Please, help me." said the man dangling captive. "Don't take me. It's not my turn. I'm too skinny! I was on Atkins and I lost forty pounds! Take the others! Fatties first." he pleaded.

"Where do they take the prisoners?" Bill asked.

"Down the hallway. There's screaming and then there's that." the man said. Layla wasn't sure what the 'that' he was referring to was.

"I'm not going." Doug said from the corner he was cowering in. "I'm staying here."

"Please. Get me down from here. I've got money. I can pay you!" the captive said.

"Hush!" Layla snapped, she was surprised how un-empathetic she felt towards the man facing a death sentence. Do people have a maximum number of lives they are willing to look out for? That didn't seem very human to her. She turned and walked with Eric down the hallway to face Russell Edgington again.

As they walked into the room Layla could see Russell lying on an old hospital gurney with a sheet covering him, resting comfortably.

"Took you long enough." he said evenly. "What infernal racket you people have been making."

Sniffing the air delicately, he turned his head to look at them all.

"Ah, Miss Stackhouse. Always a pleasure. To what do I owe?" he asked.

"Fuck you, you psychotic piece of shit." Sookie said harshly.

"Such harsh words. I would have expected that from Miss Dahlin." Russell said, inhaling deeply. "How are you... Momma?" he asked. Layla froze and glanced at Bill, horrified. Bill glanced back at her surreptitiously. She prayed that everyone would take that as a cute southern turn of phrase and nothing more.

Eric at least, didn't seem to notice.

"Hello, old friend." he said, leaning down to Russell. "Do you remember me? We've come to finish what we started."

"Well, as my great love Talbot used to say when we were buck hunting," Russell said. "Give it your best shot."

There was a sudden growl and Alcide was knocked out of sight. Layla hissed and felt her fangs slide forward.

"Fucking Christ, here we go again."