A/N: I promise that I will finish this story. I haven't given up on it! Thanks to all of you for sticking with me so far.

Chapter 50 A Parent's Job

E~

"You look like the cat that ate the canary," Sookie purred as she leaned over me, gently running her fingertips along the line of my jaw. I marveled at how her skin felt cooler than usual in comparison to mine. It was a strange sensation, but one I welcomed without pause since it was my body temperature that was different, not hers.

Her words made me smile and I opened my eyes, waiting for the response I knew was coming.

There it was—her heart paused slightly as it always did when she really looked at me in the bright sunlight. I understood her reaction. If it could, my heart would clench too when I looked at her.

It was seeing her bathed in the sunlight, more than seeing the sun itself that made me feel like I'd stepped back in time to another lifetime-my human lifetime. This was something very few of my kind ever got to experience and no matter how many times we did this, spent time in the sun, I'd never get used to it or take a minute of it for granted.

"Or perhaps the saying should be that I look like the cat who ate the falcon," I teased. She laughed lightly and nipped at my shoulder. Ah, she was still in a playful mood. I could definitely do something with that.

"You're very proud of yourself, aren't you?" she accused impishly, causing my smile to widen. "Did you ever think that maybe I let you catch me."

I flipped us over so I was on top and she tensed beneath me, unnecessarily worried about how I would tolerate being so exposed to the sun. After a moment, she relaxed when I didn't show any signs of discomfort. There was no need for her to worry, the African Tulip tree we were resting under gave us some relatively dense shade from the direct sunlight, and although I could feel the sun caressing my body, I would be fine for a while yet.

"Not possible," I said, taking a deep and unnecessary breath as I stretched my back—thoroughly enjoying the growing warmth of the early morning as it heated my newly exposed skin. If the action caused my pelvis to press even more firmly against hers, then that was simply an added benefit.

"What's not possible?" she asked through a moan of pleasure as her fingers wound into my hair and tugged lightly.

I started to answer her, but paused when she stilled, the heat of passion disappearing from her face. Her eyes were alert but unseeing and most of her attention was focused internally as though she was listening to our bond. She clearly wasn't listening to me though since I was here and my mood was very obvious.

Experience had taught me that these behaviors occurred when she felt some form of shift through the energy she shared with the sera fae. I scanned her peaceful backyard but found no threats that I could perceive.

She focused for a moment longer and then relaxed, but to my acute displeasure, she was suddenly clothed, having magicked on a pair of tight exercise shorts and tank top that she called 'Under Armour,' that she often wore when working out or literally under her armor when training.

Although she was dressed, she was relatively calm so I didn't bother grabbing the jeans that I'd left in the grass a few feet away. If this had something to do with the sera fae as I suspected, I didn't need clothing to meet with them. I did eye the dagger that was lying on the ground next to my pants and rolled us so we were side by side—freeing both of us in the event of an attack. I wasn't taking any chances, especially given that the sun had already risen and I was at a distinct disadvantage as it was.

After another quick scan of the area, I continued my earlier train of thought. "You would not have let me catch you or…thrown the match. It goes against your nature to give up in a physical challenge until you have been outwitted or physically defeated. And I did both." I didn't exactly believe my words, she gave up for emotional reasons, but I wanted to reinforce the behaviors I wished to see in her, by drawing attention to them rather than focusing on her weaknesses right now.

Her eyes twinkled with mirth. "You did a little bit more than that, I would say. However, let me remind you that it took you over an hour to catch me the second time," she taunted and then twitched uncomfortably. This time, I actually felt a surge of power coming through her fingertips. It didn't hurt me, but because we were so closely connected through blood, body and energy, I was in tune with her natural energy flow.

"Yes, but it only took me two minutes the first time," I returned, trying to help keep her relaxed.

"You didn't give me the full five-second head start," she teasingly accused, trying to hide her discomfort but I didn't miss that she was unconsciously running a hand over my chest in a protective gesture. She was so easy to read, even if we didn't have the bond to rely on.

There was nothing to fear, we both knew that, she could have us back home in under a second; she was just unnerved because these sensations were unusual. I took her hand from my chest and kissed her palm, sending her calming influences through the bond, it disturbed me to see her worried, even if she wouldn't admit it.

Perhaps it was 'Eleu or Kane she was sensing. I glanced around the property again but Sookie stopped me with a small shake of her head. The energy was not coming from them.

"No," I said, returning us to our easy banter. "You didn't take advantage of the five-second head start that I gave you. You wasted at least two of them watching me." She smiled when I grinned up at her and wiggled my eyebrows. I could tell she had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing.

"Must be the fact that you're so darn ugly she couldn't tear her eyes away," a familiar voice taunted from behind the nearest rock outcropping.

Sookie gasped and jumped to her feet, moving quickly toward the source of the voice. I knew there was no danger here so I stayed where I was and waited for him to show himself. Hunter stepped out from behind the rocks, casually picked up my pants from the grass and threw them to me with a friendly but disgusted sneer.

I laughed at his discomfort with finding me naked with Sookie, caught the pants and set them to the side, folding my hands casually behind my head. I wanted to make it clear that he was interrupting our time together and if he wanted to stay here, he'd just have to deal with my state of undress.

Sookie's heart was pounding with a mixture of the anxiety she'd been feeling and now with the pure joy of seeing her son again. I knew they often called one another 'cousin,' but when it mattered, they referred to one another as mother and son, so that's how I thought of them.

I watched carefully as Sookie launched herself at him and was swept up into a huge hug in which she looked even smaller and more fragile than ever.

"You've grown even more," she laughed as he flexed his muscles just for show. He still had nothing on me, I was sure, but he'd developed significantly in the short time he'd been away.

"If you think this is good," he said gesturing to himself, "just wait till you see what I can do." He let Sookie go, shot her a devious grin and then disappeared into the ground. My eyebrows rose at the sight and Sookie actually squealed as she jumped up and down waving her hands.

"He can terraport! Eric, he can terraport!" she yelled, her voice returning to a more comfortable sound.

I smiled and nodded; this certainly was an interesting development but what really mattered was that this skill could make the difference when engaging the sera fae. If Hunter could follow and track other sera fae by terraporting, that would erase one of the greatest advantages they had over us.

I looked around for him and suddenly he was next to me, sprawled out like my fully clothed mirror image. I couldn't help it, I smiled while Sookie cheered again and laughed at his antics. She'd told me how he'd been so frustrated when he couldn't figure out how to teleport and I guess we knew why now. That one generation further away from the fairy blood must allow him to be that much more sera fae than Sookie and as such he appeared to be more connected to the earth than the sky.

Sookie sat down on the grass by my side and grinned widely at the sight of us. I knew what she was seeing; two tall and formidably built men, one darker with bulky muscles and the other fair and built for speed and powerful endurance.

I turned my head to look directly at Hunter, gave him a small sniff and frowned. Hunter grimaced, "Yeah? Well I'm not going to mention what you reek of, Eric, because I don't even want to think about it." I knew exactly what both Sookie and I smelled like and so I grinned proudly and puffed up my chest just to irritate him.

He snarled at me and then shook his head when I jerked my chin in Sookie's direction. He had something to tell Sookie and I wasn't going to be the one to face her wrath. Sookie glanced back and forth between us, trying to figure out what was going on and I knew from her expression that she had been blocked from looking into his mind. Fabulous. I guess it was up to me after all since Hunter was not going to talk.

"So, Hunter," I began casually, "when are you planning on explaining to your mother why you smell like fairy?"

Hunter clenched his jaw and gave me a perfect 'fuck you' glare. If I hadn't just watched Sookie's face pale, I would have laughed at how easy it was to set him off.

Then, despite our location, which prohibited fairies from being here by its very geological makeup, Sookie tensed and began to glow slightly, preparing for a fight. She was staring at Hunter, but it was clear that she wasn't seeing him, but a future filled with what she saw as unspeakable horrors.

I gestured to her, urging Hunter to get on with it before she completely lost all semblance of reason and began to act out of instinct, but Hunter simply narrowed his eyes at me and mumbled, "And whose fucking fault is it that she's upset? She didn't have to know." I shook my head; I was not taking the blame for being the messenger of bad news. She had every right to know what he'd been up to and it was time for him to step up and tell her about whatever had happened.

Before he could say anything, Sookie was on her knees at his side and he slowly sat up so they were eye to eye.

"What?" she demanded and in that one minute, three months of relative calm and security that existed in our lives faded away. Our bond was filled with the tinny pulsations of her fear. "Where are the Britlingens? Why are you even here? What happened?"

"Relax," he chided calmly, and I closed my eyes briefly at his stupidity. He clearly didn't know her very well if he was hoping to calm her down with that comeback. He didn't get the chance to dig his hole any deeper because she suddenly grabbed his right hand and pulled it to her.

"No, no, no, no." she said, shaking her head as she clearly saw the dried blood caked between his ring and middle finger that must have been the primary source of the fairy scent I'd picked up from him. He obviously missed this bit of blood when he'd cleaned himself off after battling the fairy.

Imbecile.

Despite my irritation with him, I couldn't help but imagine how that blood would taste if I were to clean it off for him, but the idea of licking Sookie's son's hand along with the exasperated look I got from Sookie helped me temper my desires.

"Mom, calm down," Hunter said in another stellar train wreck of a response.

"Hunter, please tell me you didn't fight a fairy…please."

"I didn't fight a fairy," he lied as he nonchalantly wet his thumb and rubbed it on the blood between his fingers and then used my neglected pants to wipe it away.

Did I say imbecile? I meant bloody fool.

I never lost control, I was accustomed to the scent of fairy blood, but the smell would always tempt me at least a little. My nostrils flared and my fangs ran out as the scent intensified tenfold, but Sookie reacted first by yelling out in frustration as she ripped the pants from Hunter's grasp and placed her hand on the bloodstain. A second later, the material burst into flames under her hand and the enticing scent of pure fairy blood was replaced by that of burnt jeans. With an irritated huff, she tossed the destroyed jeans ten feet away and after giving me a cursory glance, she turned back to Hunter.

"This isn't a joke, Hunter," she snarled, her eyes flashing with anger.

Although I hated feeling her fear, I loved seeing her like this, especially when there was no immediate danger and her anger wasn't directed at me.

"You're supposed to be with the Britlingens. You're supposed to be safe. They're supposed to be protecting you. Where are they?" she demanded, her voice growing in volume with each sentence. Hunter glanced at me, not quite repressing an eye roll and I felt his careless action wound her sensitive heart.

I stopped enjoying the show right then and sat up with my back against the tree, still preserving as much energy as was possible. I was not going to be party to his discounting her concerns as those of an irrational and over-protective mother. Hunter took my cue and sighed deeply before turning back to his mother. This time his voice was gentle and more respectful just as it should be while speaking to her.

"Their job was never to protect me—it was to instruct me on how to protect myself and they've done that. I'm done."

"That's ridiculous. It's been less than four months; you're supposed to stay with them for a year, Hunter. They were contracted to work with you for a full year. You most certainly are not done. You've just begun."

I knew she gained comfort from the fact that there was a set plan for how Hunter's training was supposed to happen. The knowledge that he was safe for the next eight months had given her some much-needed breathing room from her worries about him and she would have a hard time letting go of that sense of security.

"No," he said gently but firmly. "I'm done."

"You can't be. You're not ready."

"I am." His smile was back, but it didn't comfort either of us, instead it terrified her and set off warning sirens in my mind.

"How? How could that be possible?"

"I learn fast," and his smile took a cocky turn that made her nauseous.

"This isn't a joke Hunter. This is your life, your security. Do you remember Oakland?"

"Yes." The word was hissed and his eyes took on a glare I'd seen hundreds of times reflected in the horror-filled eyes of my opponents just before I killed them. My opinion of him improved when I saw that familiar expression, it was the look of a warrior. "And I wish they'd come for us now. I'm not so easy to take down anymore."

Sookie groaned and pulled at her hair, totally at her wits end.

"Listen," Hunter said with frustration clear in his voice, "I'm fine. I won that battle with the fairy, didn't I? He's not home having a pleasant conversation with his mother, I am." My hands fisted at the sarcasm that tainted his deliberately hurtful words.

This dynamic was so strange for me to witness. I'd never spent much time paying attention to relationships between human mothers and sons, but I knew that no son in my village would have ever spoken to his mother, adoptive or not, in this way. It seemed to me that the only thing Hunter could possibly accomplish by talking to Sookie in this way would be to push her away and I was sure that must be his ultimate goal.

Whenever Pam got so out of line that she spoke to me in a similar manner, all it took was one look from me to set her straight. Clearly human parents didn't have that type of control over their children. It was a shame.

Sookie was frozen in place with her hands tightly wrapped in her hair and then she finally thawed enough to turn to me, her eyes begging me for help. I glanced between the two of them for a few seconds, carefully gauging my words, before I spoke.

"First. You will watch your words when you speak to my wife. Do you understand me? I don't care if she is your mother, cousin, friend or the one thing holding you to your old life. You will speak to her respectfully." Hunter had the sense to look ashamed, but I waited until he nodded. Sookie was still frozen, staring at me with panicked eyes, appearing not to have heard anything that had passed between Hunter and I.

I looked for the right path to follow with my questioning and spoke with a neutral voice when I was ready. "What did your trainers have to say about you leaving?"

Sookie blinked a few times and then nodded enthusiastically, sure that the Britlingens would never tolerate this kind of carelessness.

"They said that I lasted longer than some." He looked back at Sookie. "No one but you has ever stayed the whole year."

I was struck by the thought that she could have returned to me long before she did, but the sight of Sookie's shocked face made me realize that she'd never contemplated leaving, even if she knew she would be allowed to go, which I doubted. I was once again reminded about how trusting my wife was even now, and I found that thought anything but comforting.

"They weren't surprised when I told them I was ready to leave. They'd already anticipated I wouldn't last long so they sped up my training process."

"I don't believe it." Sookie said with a shaky voice. "Shields, weapons, terraporting…control. You couldn't have learned enough. I'm still learning, Hunter. Even a full year wasn't enough."

"It was enough for me. I'm done. I'm not spending one more endless day there kissing uptight Britlingen ass. I'm ready to be out on my own. I've already proven it by killing that fairy." He had the courtesy to look chagrined when his words caused Sookie to blanch even further and when he continued talking; his voice was softer as though he was pleading her to understand him. "I want to live my life now. I'm tired of hiding from the bogeyman, preparing for the big fight—it's all I've done my whole life. I'm ready. I'm done practicing."

They stared at one another, communicating telepathically until the moment was ruined when pain trickled through the bond. I cursed my weakness since what we were feeling wasn't emotional; it was physical and it wasn't hers-it was mine. Fuck.

Sookie gasped and tore her eyes from Hunter to look at me. I retained my relaxed posture against the tree, but there was no way I could hide the pain of my cells declaring that they had finally had enough exposure to the sun.

I'd run out of time.

Sookie didn't feel my frustration since she was busy berating herself for losing track of how long we'd been out here. She quickly reached out for me, intending to teleport us back home, but I caught her hand in mine and gently pressed her palm into the grass at my side.

"Wait," I instructed and then turned to Hunter. The little shit (I used that designation with at least a tiny bit of affection from the quasi-friendship we'd developed in the year Sookie was in Britlin) was already causing problems and I needed to tell him a few things to ensure damage control.

"We've been given many warnings about not trusting anyone. I would include all of the sera fae and Britlingens in that group." Sookie gaped at me and then she saw reason and nodded sadly. Although she needed to always be questioning everyone's motives, I hated seeing the look in her eyes when life stripped away her faith in people. It always left her looking a little bit hollow for a few days afterward until she adapted to her new reality.

"Think carefully through everything they said to ensure that you are not being led into a trap. You do not have the luxury of relaxing and having fun anymore. You must always be on alert and make every single decision with extreme caution. For if you, in your haste, take a foolish step that gets Sookie hurt, I will personally…" I stopped when Sookie's fingers bit into my forearm but I continued looking straight at Hunter. "I'm sure I don't have to finish that statement for you to understand what I'm saying."

Hunter ignored my threat but glanced worriedly at Sookie. I was mildly comforted to see that he was disturbed by the idea of his actions causing Sookie to be hurt.

I nodded at him when he looked back at me. "You know she will come to your defense so don't ever put yourself at risk."

I glared at Hunter until I received a small nod from him.

Good.

"I offer you a place in my kingdom where you can live under my protection in buildings warded against fairies." Hunter's cheek twitched at my suggestion, so I tried another tactic. "But if you refuse, I would recommend that you stay here or in some other volcanic land where fairies can not follow you."

"I learned that bit in hour one of my training and I'm not going into hiding," Hunter said dismissively.

"I am not entering into a discussion with you about this. I am simply providing you with options, advice and warning." I emphasized the last word to make my point about not bringing trouble to Sookie crystal clear.

The burning in my body had increased in intensity every second and I couldn't hide that from Sookie. She looked desperately from me to Hunter. "Wait here for me?" she begged, and the tone in her voice caused my fists to clench again. I knew they were family, but I hated hearing her beg for anything.

He debated silently; clearly uncomfortable with the idea of staying for any amount of time, and it was all I could do to refrain from knocking some sense into him. I didn't think he needed to stay indefinitely, but he could at least give her some time to adjust to the circumstances.

"Please, Hunter. Please don't leave yet. Let's talk about this some more." He finally nodded and she took me back to our bedroom at the headquarters in the blink of an eye.

The pull of day was stronger here and so I was sluggish as she quickly covered me with the sheet, but I still managed to maintain my grasp on her hand.

"Don't trust him, Sookie."

"Eric, he's my son," she said unbelievingly.

"He's an unknown variable. You can love him, but don't place your faith in him."

She shook her head. "I'm going back." I growled feebly, almost asleep now and hated the sound immediately.

"I'm going to get Thalia. She'll be able to talk some sense into him and she can be up all day so long as she's out of the direct sunlight. I'll get her and take her to Hana with me."

"Sheila," was all I could say as I nodded my support of her plan.

"Fine. I'll get her too. I'll be fine," she mumbled distractedly.

I watched through sleepy eyes as she ran to her dresser and got 'Eleu's letter for Hunter. Her fingers twitched over the note attached to the sealed letter on which was written the words, "Trust none."

I knew she was fearful that she could be giving Hunter the ammunition he needed to break all ties with her if she passed on that specific note from their makua. He would take the note more literally than Sookie had and would include her into the category of people he wouldn't trust. He didn't see the world in grays like Sookie did, he was more inclined to see in black and white like I was and we both knew it.

Sookie wouldn't be able to handle it if he told her he wasn't going to trust her, but I didn't think she had to worry that he'd leave her forever. It was clear that although he was ready to take the next step in his life and felt that he had to push her away to do so, Hunter loved her deeply. That didn't mean that he would stay, he wouldn't, but I believed they would find a way to make the separation easier on her in the end. At least I hoped so.

Right now though, she was equating trust with love and the two don't always go hand in hand. There were many times in Pam's life as my child that I hadn't been able to trust her, but I still loved her unconditionally. I knew that it was her new nature of being a vampire that caused her to make the unfortunate decisions she did rather than who she was at her core. Eventually, Sookie would realize that Hunter, too, was being driven by his own instinctual urges.

I smiled weakly, remembering how Sookie had behaved when the fairy in her had been suppressed by the heated iron in the detention area. By comparison, Hunter was doing incredibly well. I guess his time with the Britlingens had benefitted him in at least that way.

Sookie would see it eventually. She had told me many times of the struggles she'd had raising Hunter and of the ways she knew she could and couldn't trust him to make the right decisions as a teenager. She simply couldn't see that right now and in this situation, she was too emotional for me to point it out to her.

What made all of this even harder for her, I think, was that she had a confusing relationship with Hunter. She had kept him so close, protected him every moment while he was growing up and now she needed to redefine their relationship and see him as a completely separate individual and supernatural being who was apparently quite different from her.

I kept silent, allowing her to make her decision about what to do with the note on her own. I succumbed to the relentless pull of the sun before she made her choice.

o-o-o

When I awoke, I wasn't at the headquarters where I had fallen asleep, but in our home and Sookie was here somewhere. The scent of her tears was the first thing I registered, followed by her sweat and a tiny bit of her blood. She was asleep but her emotions, even at rest, clearly told me that things had not gone as she had hoped and honestly, I wasn't surprised.

I pulled on some clothes and sought out my wife, finding her curled up asleep in a corner of our gym. From the look of the broken dummy, she'd vented her emotions on it.

She looked so small and defeated on the floor; her hair stringy and clothes stained from sweat and knuckles and elbows spotted with dried blood. I've rarely felt so protective of her and it was just her heart that had been hurt in this case.

I know children have to go their separate ways at some point but I hated that this was hurting her. I wanted to despise him for it, but I couldn't because she loved him so deeply and his actions and desires really didn't seem too unusual or extreme.

All the same, he was lucky that they weren't vampire mother and child or he'd have no choice but to stay with her until she was convinced he was ready to leave as had happened so recently with Pam and Miriam. Some makers even kept their children long after they were ready to go as Appius had done to me.

I sat down next to her and ran my finger across her cheekbone, feeling the tracks of her dried tears. She stirred at my touch and pressed her face into my hand, seeking the comfort of my presence. I took the hint and lowered myself down behind her, curling my body around hers. She instantly flipped over and her arms and legs coiled around me desperately so I held her head to my chest, offering her as much contact as possible.

After a long while, I kissed the top of her head and whispered, "Tell me what happened."

She sighed deeply and nudged me so I pulled us up so that she was sitting in my lap, supported by my bent legs.

"You know what happened. He's not going back to Britlin. He's not staying in Hana or coming here. He doesn't have a clue where he's going or what he'll be doing. He just wants to explore." Her voice sounded hollow and bone tired.

"Thalia?"

She laughed bitterly. "Thalia didn't help a bit. In fact, she supported him. She said that it was unnatural to impose a training period on someone who had already accepted the pa. She believes training should happen before hand like she did and like I tried to do with Hunter while he was a child. She says it's in his nature to want to get away and seek out growth independently.

"Apparently that desire doesn't exist in me because my blood is too diluted. My instincts are muted by those of the emotionally and socially dependent fairies," she said mimicking Thalia's dry tone.

"Hunter is only doing what comes naturally to any healthy, almost full-blooded sera fae. Apparently sera fae don't really like to be together until they've fully matured. It's not just something a makua imposes upon the young ones. It just felt that way to me because I didn't feel the need to be a nomad, traveling God-knows-where all by myself for the however many hundreds of years it will take for me to reach maturity."

I kissed her forehead, offering support in the best way I knew. Once again, her family was being torn apart and it hurt just to see it, much less feel it seeping out of her broken heart.

"So what did you do?" I asked gently.

"What could I do? There's only so much begging and fighting I can do before he hates me for it. He's moving on to what he sees as his purpose and his future and apparently, I'm shitting on his parade." I gave a small disgusted shiver at the imagery her choice of words provoked. "I have to accept it. It fits with everything I've been told about the normal sera fae journey."

"Has he departed already?"

"No, he agreed to stay for a few days once I described how much harder it was to fight vampires and weres with demon blood who didn't mind about spilling our blood the way the Britlingens did. He's excited to fight Will since we can't see him or sense him telepathically, but it was Thalia's one punch knock out that really convinced him to stay for a few days," she said with a wavering smile.

I would have paid anything to see that. No, scratch that, I would have paid anything to have done that without any ramifications from Sookie. She gave me another sad smile and shook her head, sensing my desire.

The worst was over.

"I've condensed your important meetings into the first few hours tonight and then, if you don't mind, I'd like for us to go to Hana with Will. I sent a message to Pam, asking her to handle the other meetings. Hunter's already working with Sheila and Thalia now," she said with a grimace and I laughed knowingly. To say that those two women didn't get along very well was a gross understatement. Hunter would have his hands full with both of them.

"We'll be there," I answered, knowing that Pam was going to hate being left behind but I couldn't worry about her right now. My focus had to be on training Hunter and impressing upon him how dangerous this world could be for one of his blood. Maybe we could entice Kane or 'Eleu to show up and really teach him a lesson from their point of view.

o-o-o

We trained later that night and all through the next three nights.

Hunter was a formidable opponent, especially when in Hawaii. When in Louisiana, however, he was slower, just as Sookie was, but the difference was more pronounced because of how very impressive he was on his 'native' soil.

Beyond the skills of telepathy, heat and fire production, shifting and calling familiar objects to him that he shared with Sookie, Hunter's strengths were most notable in his quick judgment, lack of empathy for his opponent, brute strength that rivaled mine and scrappy fighting style.

I hated to even think it, but those components put together made him not just a better fighter than Sookie, but a better survivor as well. She was always looking for the way to win with the least amount of collateral damage but Hunter plowed right through, ensuring that above anything else, he was the one standing in the end. Even Thalia and Will were impressed and that, more than my approval, helped Sookie to feel confident in his abilities.

If anything, seeing Hunter fight made me more worried about Sookie as it highlighted her weaknesses when compared to his strengths. They were relatively equal in skill, but when in a life or death fight, skill was very rarely the most important variable.

She didn't want to hear it, demanding that we focus on Hunter during this short time that we had with him, but relented when I informed her that we would be working more diligently on her weaknesses as soon as he went on his way. I knew Will had been focusing on trying to toughen her up emotionally and he was on the right track, but I still wasn't sure it would be possible to affect that kind of change on her personality. But I was going to try.

It turned out that Hunter's greatest weakness were that even after fighting and often losing to us, he discounted vampires as opponents because he believed that he would be able to destroy us with his shields. We showed him how he lost his ability to rely on his powers once he had been injured a few times, but I don't believe he fully appreciated the danger. That being said, it was very hard to actually get our hands on him with his shifting and terraporting and this added to his confidence.

His other weakness was that he was uncomfortable when inside most buildings because the materials used in the construction often prohibited his terraporting. He refused to relax for long in the house and instead, simply disappeared into the ground where Sookie couldn't follow.

She didn't admit it but she was a wreck the first time this occurred. It got easier and by the end of his visit and she found comfort in knowing that he was safe wherever he was.

Now I finally understood why Thalia always went to ground during the day rather than choosing the more comfortable environment of a home and a bed. I'd always figured it was that she was paranoid, but as it turns out, they both felt trapped when inside. It was no longer a terraporting issue for Thalia of course, but habits are hard to change and she was one to cling to old patterns.

It turned out that Thalia and Hunter's core personalities were similar in more ways than just their sleeping habits and he listened to advice from her more avidly than from the rest of us. The longer they were together, the more I saw the individual Thalia must have been before she was turned and lost her joy in living.

She was still vicious and bloodthirsty, but she was happy and the connection I'd seen forming between her and Sookie was even stronger with Hunter. What was odder still was that while Thalia became attached to both Hunter and Sookie, Hunter didn't return the feelings. He respected her, but that was all. She understood him and together they didn't have to deal with what they saw as Sookie's ever-present morality and so Thalia allowed Hunter to connect more fully with his true nature. That was the reason he enjoyed being with her rather than the emotional connection Thalia and Sookie felt.

I wouldn't tell Sookie until the dust had settled that I approved as fully as I did, but human morals would just impede Hunter's ability to survive on his own and anyone who said differently was a fool. This included Pele, who in my estimation held Sookie back when she told her to never forget her humanity and her human morals and emotions.

When Hunter left, he agreed to maintain regular contact with Sookie through the use of a satellite phone they had among their emergency supplies in the safe room. He also took a variety of weapons and had a stash of other useful items and backup clothing placed in the house in Hana for whenever he needed to call them to him.

Surprisingly, I think Thalia took the separation worse than Sookie did when our time together came to a close. Being with Hunter and Sookie had provided her with a visceral reminder of what she had lost so long ago and her grief was clearly etched on her face.

At her insistence, I gave her a month off starting that night so she could pull herself back together. Sookie and I were both surprised when she told us she would be returning briefly to see her maker, the Ancient Pythoness. Perhaps this reminder of her past made her homesick in a variety of ways. I carefully asked her to question the oracle to see if she had any more information to add to the cryptic warnings and advice she had already given us.

As Hunter prepared to leave, Thalia gave him a small serpent charm to wear with the necklace 'Eleu had given to him with his letter. She also gave Sookie one of her original serpent armbands from when she was sera fae. I recognized it as one she had worn to important events including the night she reunited with Sookie a few months ago. She promised that when she returned from her sabbatical, she would have two more so they each would have a full set.

The items were both thousands of years old and most definitely priceless so I was relieved when Sookie accepted the gift with grace and promised to treasure the armband as a connection to Thalia, Hunter and all those of her bloodline.

With quick goodbyes, both Hunter and Thalia were gone—one via the ground and the other by way of the sky.

The one time Sookie let herself worry about Hunter, I turned to her and caressed her neck. "I don't think you need to worry about Hunter," I said with a smile, "I got the feeling that Thalia will be with him for the first week or so." Sookie's eyes widened. "She understands him, Sookie. She understands him more than she does you. She knows of his wanderlust and his desire to be independent. It is innate to them, just as finding a small family unit to call your own is innate to the fairy blood in you."

She nodded, having come to terms with this herself.

"We all do," I continued, "in some form or another, what is natural to us. We can fight it or adapt it some, but eventually we must honor our instinctual needs." I looked at her knowingly and she gave a small laugh despite her worry. We knew all about feeding our instinctual needs and just to prove it, I rubbed myself against her soft, warm skin.

"Let's go home," she whispered sweetly into my ear, "we still have a few hours of dark left there and I want to be in our home with you."

What had looked like the beginning of difficult times had working out much better than I had anticipated.

It had been too smooth…almost too easy.

I should have known then that this was just the beginning of our troubles.