Walking through the doors of Bill's house, or as Eric called it: 'royal castle', Brooklynne wondered how weird it must have been for Sookie to step foot inside. It had changed more than their own house and was barely recognizable. Of course, Brooke had been there so many times she almost knew it like the back of her hand. She didn't need for the human guards to lead her to the King's office. At some point that summer she had spent days and nights helping Bill with a vampire crisis. Walking through the house made her miss the sun. Not just because of the fake windows, but Bill, perhaps in an attempt of modernizing his tastes, had decorated everything in black and white, and Brooke always thought Sookie would add a little color to it.

"Ah," Bill said as they came in, as if he were impatiently waiting for them. He was sitting at his desk, pen and paper in his hands, and a worried look on his face. "Thank you for coming."

"What's so important, your Majesty?" Eric said, the way he always said those words, sarcastically.

"There's a new coven in town."

"Again?"

"Oh no, witches," Eric sighed as he stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

"Based out of a Wicca shop, not far from here. We…" he paused, then stood up. "I sent a vampire to stop them, two nights ago. We only found him earlier tonight… he seems he's forgotten… everything."

"What do you mean 'everything'?" Eric asked.

"His name, his past… He knows he's a vampire but only seems to remember fragments of his human life."

"So the witches cast a spell on him?" Brooke deduced.

"They're necromancers," Bill informed them. "They brought a bird back from the dead."

"A bird?"

"Are you certain of this?" Eric asked, suddenly as concerned as his King.

"I had someone on the inside. You know what this means, don't you?"

"If they can control the dead, they can control us," he nodded.

"That's why I need Brooklynne. I need her to ask Marnie if she knows how to undo the spell she cast two nights ago."

"Can't you glamour her?"

"Like I said. She's a necromancer."

"I'm not letting Brooklynne go in that coven alone."

"She won't have to. Marnie's downstairs."

"You kidnapped the witch?" Eric scoffed. "Just kill her."

"I thought that would be the reasonable thing to do as well," he said. "But Nan disagreed. We're forbidden from killing her or any human."

"Fuck her. Make it look like an accident."

"Any vampire who kills a mortal will be sentenced to the True Death. Is that what you want?"

"It's fine," Brooke interrupted them. "I'll go."

"Wait," Eric stopped her. "We don't know what she's capable of, she could cast a spell on you too."

"She won't go alone," Bill told them. "I'll send a human agent down with her."

"Oh, thanks, I feel so much better now," Eric replied sarcastically.

"I'll be fine," Brooke repeated. "I can read minds, remember? I'll be out of there before she can say Bibidi-Bobidi-Boo."

"You think she shares the same spell book as the fat fairy from Snow-White? It's too dangerous."

Brooklynne couldn't help but laugh. "First of all, it's the fairy godmother from Cinderella. Second of all, I'm not asking for you permission."

"She brought a bird back to life, she's not gonna give you a makeover for any ball. You could get seriously hurt."

"Actually," Bill cleared his throat. "The bird was only alive for a few seconds before it died again. I doubt Marnie is any threat to a mortal."

"Your doubts aren't good enough."

"Eric," Brooklynne sighed. "I'm going. I'll be fine. Okay?"

He paused. He was not happy, he was not happy at all. But most of their missions started that way. They argued about how dangerous it was for her, but she always ended up doing it anyway.

"She gets paid double the usual, for the risk."

Bill scoffed. "Yeah, for the risk."

The King of Louisiana gestured a heavily armed agent, all dressed in black and bullet proof uniform, face hidden by a black helmet, to join them in the room.

"Like I said. She won't go alone."


The cells in the basement were all camera protected and Bill and Eric watched carefully on the computer screen as Brooklynne and agent 14 entered Marnie's cells. All the rooms in the basement shared the same poor yellow lighting which Brooklynne hated. It was a pitiful attempt to produce fake sunlight and it gave her a headache more than anything else.

The witch was lying on the bed of the small room, and she stood up hastily as she heard the door open. She had long messy hair, a lost look on her face, and was dressed in a discolored light blue long sleeves shirt and a long green skirt which wiped the floor every time she moved. She looked like a witch, alright. An old and lonely lady whose gifts had marginalized her from the world her entire life.

"Good evening," Brooklynne said with a smile as to not alarm her. "Marnie, is it?" she asked, but the witch just stared at her with confusion.

"A human? They sent a human. What does she want, what is this?"

Brooke escaped the witch's confused mind as quickly as she had entered it.

"My name is Brooklynne Stackhouse. I work for the King of Louisiana. You have nothing to be afraid of."

"You work for those… vampires?"

"I do," Brooklynne nodded, keeping a pretty smile on despite Marnie's visible disgust. "I just have a few questions for you, if that's okay?"

"She can't glamour me, why did they send her, why not a vampire…"

"Recently, a vampire entered the Moongoddess Emporium, your shop, right? He seems to have forgotten who he is. Was that your doing?"

"He attacked us!" she replied with an angered tone. "We started chanting and he left."

"So you cast a spell on him?"

"It was a… a non-specific protection incantation," she stuttered. "I barely remember what I said because he took a chunk out of my neck!"

"Vampires tend to do that."

"We had assembled peacefully to practice our religion!"

"Do you know how to reverse the spell?"

"I told you… I don't know what I said!"

"Help me. Oh, I need you. Where are you? Help me. Please, help me."

"But now you know his memory is gone. Don't you know how to fix it?"

"I have no idea… I'm… I'm sorry."

And she meant it. She had not lied, not once. She was a pretty incompetent witch, and Brooke wondered if Bill's concern wasn't misplaced.

"Thank you, Marnie," Brooke said before she turned around to leave.

"W-wait! Wh-… Can I leave now?"

"I apologize. It's not my decision to make."


"Are you sure?" Bill insisted. "She's no threat to us?"

"She's kinda insane," Brooke said. "She kept asking for someone to help her… a… a witch, a dead witch. Apparently, she's the one who cast the spell on your sick vampire."

"Did she mention any name?"

"No, sorry."

"Well… thank you, anyway."

"Sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

"You've done enough."

"Can we go now?" Eric complained.

"Of course. Thanks again, for your help."

Eric handed his hand to her which she quickly took, and he pretty much dragged her out of Bill's office. As they stepped out, Bill's cellphone started ringing and Eric rolled his eyes as he heard the vampire call for his human.

"Brooklynne, didn't you say Jason was missing?"

"He's not missing," she corrected him.

"Well, Jessica just texted me. She found him badly hurt on the side of the road, right outside of Bon Temps."

"What?"

"She and Hoyt dropped him off at his house. I thought you'd like to know."

"Thanks Bill!"

"Of course."

"I need to call Sookie," Brooklynne told Eric. "I have to go. Now!"


Eric had left Brooklynne and Sookie at Jason's house where they found Hoyt and Jessica waiting for them.

"Thank you for staying with him," Sookie said as she joined them in the kitchen, behind the counter. "Is he okay?"

"I gave him my blood," Jessica replied. "He should be fine."

"Did he say what happened?"

"He hasn't talked to us," Hoyt shook his head. "He's pretty freaked out, though. He… he looked like he fought with a bear or something."

"A bear?" Sookie repeated with a dumb look on her face.

"We'll let you take care of him now," Jessica said as she slid her hand in Hoyt's. "You can count on us if you need anything."

"Thanks so much, Jess," Brooklynne nodded.

"He's in his bedroom," Hoyt told them.

"I know," both sisters replied in unison.

The usual awkward moment followed and passed quickly as Jessica dragged Hoyt out of the house. Once they were alone, the two sisters made their way to their brother's bedroom where they found him pacing around shirtless.

"Jason?" Sookie called quietly. "Are you okay?"

"No," he whined. "I don't know. No," he mumbled as he ran a hand through his hair.

"What happened? Hoyt said you were in pretty bad shape."

"I… remember Crystal?"

"Your crazy ex-girlfriend?" Brooke asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sure."

"She kidnapped me!" he said so loud it startled his sisters. "She… with her family… and they… they bit me!"

"They bit you?" Sookie frowned.

"And they scratched me!"

"I told you they were insane, but you never listened to me," Brooke shrugged. "File a police report, get them arrested."

"I… no I don't care about that!"

"You don't want to press charges?" Sookie asked. "I'll do it for you. I'm not gonna let them get away with this!"

"No, you're not listening to me!" he yelled. "They bit me!"

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Jason," Sookie said.

"I'm not embarrassed! They bit me!" he repeated. "Oh, I'm so screwed," he sighed as he let himself fall on his bed.

Sookie and Brooke looked at each other and shared the same thought.

"Maybe we should take you to the hospital? Did you hit your head?" Sookie asked.

"I'm fine!" he quickly replied as he sat up. "No," he shook his head, "I'm not fine, I'm gonna turn into a werepanther!"

"A what?" Brooke breathed out.

"I'm getting the car," Sookie said, ready to exit the room.

"I'm not crazy!" Jason stopped her. "My ex-girlfriend, she did this to me! And her werepanther tribe… they bit me! And they said I would turn into one of them on the full moon!"

"Oh!" Brooklynne realized. "That's what it was about. I knew they were weird but I thought it was just because they're father's also their brother."

Brooklynne had never met Crystal or any of her family, but she had seen them a few times around, and had always found their thoughts to be extremely bizarre. She just thought it was because they were poor kids raised between meth and V, who could barely read and knew nothing but their deranged family.

"Yeah, they want to make more werepanthers so they keep it in the family!"

"Gross," Sookie grimaced. "Damn it, werepanthers? How does that even happen?"

"The same way shapeshifters and werewolves happened, I suppose," Brooklynne said.

"But can you even become a werewolf, or a werepanther? Don't you have to be born one?"

"I don't know, if they went through all this trouble to make Jason into one of them maybe they know what they're doing?"

"Guys!" Jason interrupted them. "When's the full moon?"

"The full moon?" Brooke repeated. "That's tomorrow night."

Jason whined again as he dropped on his bed. "God help me."


Eric had first thought Brooklynne was messing with him when she told him about Jason's situation. But he came to realize that unlike what he had thought, he didn't know all there was to know about the world, despite having been alive for over a thousand years. The vampire had agreed to help them watch over Jason, just in case he did turn into a werepanther, but Bill called as soon as the sun was set, and Eric had to leave for an emergency meeting. All the sheriffs of Louisiana met at least once a month at Bill's, but this meeting came too early and it could only be about Marnie. "Bill worries too much," Eric had said, and so far, Brooklynne couldn't really disagree with that statement.

Left alone in the cool night, Brooklynne met with her siblings at her former parents' house. Sookie was armed with a shotgun, at Jason's request.

"The second I start sprouting fur, I want you to shoot me right in the head."

"I'm not gonna shoot you," Sookie chuckled.

They were sitting between two trees, on the old patio chairs that had been through many summers and winters outside and were probably a heavy weight away from breaking.

"But you promised!"

"We promised we'd take care of you," Brooklynne reminded him.

"What do you think that meant?" he yelled. "Change my kitty litter? Guys, I'm gonna have claws and big fucking teeth! I could rip you to pieces."

"So can vampires and we've survived this long," Brooke said. "Besides, what makes you think you won't be able to control yourself once in… panther form?"

"I don't know! And you don't know either! I ain't never been good at controlling my impulses! Come on!"

"You're still our brother, even if you are a were…" Sookie paused, she couldn't say it, it was already hard not to laugh when she heard it.

"Panther," Jason sighed.

"Right," she rolled her eyes. "Every time I get my head wrapped around one kind of supe… new ones come along. Werepanthers… witches…"

"Kinda makes you wonder what else there is out there… Maenads… mermaids… Gods…"

"Mermaids are real?" both Sookie and Jason asked in unison.

"I don't know," Brooke shrugged. "But would it surprise you?"

"No, not really," Sookie sighed as she laid back in her chair.

"Bright side, you won't be alone," Brooke told her brother.

"I barely know any regular humans anymore," Sookie realized.

"Hoyt, Tara, Arlene, Terry, Lafayette…" Jason started to count them on his fingers.

"Lafayette's a witch too," Brooke told them. "Or some kind of magic creepy stuff."

"How do you know?" Sookie asked.

"Holly told me."

"Holly? The waitress?"

"Yeah," Brooke chuckled. "She's a wicca too. But witches are just humans using magic. Anyone can do it. Some people like Lafayette just have special gifts is all."

"Right," Sookie said, "so we know four people who aren't supernatural."

"Well, I like being a regular, old, all-American human," Jason told them. "I don't wanna be some freak of nature."

"Like us?" Brooke said, laying back in her chair.

"No, that… that ain't what I meant."

"I know."

"It's okay," Brooke shrugged.

"Most of my life, when I'd say my prayers at night, I'd wish to God to be normal. Then I realized there ain't no such thing as normal," she scoffed. "Everybody's got something in them they're ashamed of or… can just do without even trying."

"Yeah, like I'm extra good at sex? And shooting?"

"Uh-uh," Sookie nodded. Brooke silently chuckled. "But those ain't the things that make us who we are. It's what we do with them that really matters. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah…" he nodded, then shook his head. "Uh, no, not exactly."

"You can't run from what's inside you," she explained. "But it might be a blessing if you let it. And I'll be happy to help you… we'll be happy to help, right Brooke?"

"Of course! Dude… you may be able to turn into a panther, at will! That's awesome!"

"You… you think so?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah? … Yeah!"

It was easy enough to put any sorts of ideas in Jason's head, even without using any of her powers.

"Are you guys hungry?" Jason asked.

"I can fix us some steaks," Sookie said.

"Yeah, and… can you grab me a fresh one?" he asked, giving his empty can of beer to Brooklynne.

"Coming right up!"

Both sisters got into the house, leaving their brother alone for no more than two minutes, but when Brooklynne got back with a cold can of beer, she found nothing but three empty chairs.

"Motherfucker."


"What are we gonna say when someone sees us walking through the woods with a shotgun?" Brooklynne asked.

"Why would we have to say anything? It's Bon Temps, after all. And who's gonna be walking through the woods at this time of night?"

"You mean on a full moon? Oh, I don't know, werewolves, werepanthers…"

"Not funny."

"Didn't say it was…"

"Jason!" Sookie started calling again. "Jason! Please, just come home! We'll deal with this!"

"Shh," Brooklynne stopped, putting a hand on her sister's arm.

"What?"

"Listen."

For a moment of silence, all that could be heard were the usual forest noises from the wind in the leaves and the birds in the trees. But then, they heard something else. Something that sounded a little like footsteps.

"Sook," Brooke whispered.

Sookie raised the weapon as she put a finger on the trigger and started aiming it at the bush where the sound was coming from.

"Jason?"

Someone came out from the other side of the bush, but it wasn't Jason. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a white shirt underneath her black leather jacket.

"Debbie?"

"Hey Sookie," the werewolf greeted. "Brooklynne."

"What are you doing here, Debbie?" Sookie asked, not lowering the gun down.

"She's with me."

As soon as Alcide appeared before her, Sookie relaxed, and put the shotgun away.

"We're on our way to a meeting with our new pack," he said.

"See, told ya," Brooke smirked. Sookie merely rolled her eyes.

"You guys really shouldn't be wandering around like this," Debbie said. "Full moon and all, never know what could be out here tonight."

"No kidding," Sookie replied dryly.

Brooke frowned as she realized her sister was fuming. Was it… jealousy? She smiled.

"You hunting something?" Alcide asked, gesturing at the weapon.

"Kinda," Brooke half shrugged, half nodded.

"Hey!" Sookie breathed out as she realized they could actually be really helpful to them. "Werepanthers, they're basically like werewolves, right, except cats?"

"Please tell me she did not just compare us to cats," Debbie said angrily.

"Oh, she didn't mean it as an insult," Brooke told her. "She's genuinely asking."

"Sorry," Sookie said. "It's hard keeping track of which of y'all hate each other."

"We tend to stick with our own species," Alcide explained. "But most weres have got more in common with each other than they like to admit. Why you asking?"

"How does somebody become a were… whatever?"

"They don't," Debbie answered. "Unless one of their parents or both of them are full-blooded."

"So if I got bit…" she started to say but then saw worry take over Alcide's face and corrected herself, "uh, not me, per se, but if somebody I knew got bit…"

"There's no way to turn a human into a were, if that's what you're asking," Alcide told her. "It's hereditary. Not a virus."

"You sure about that?"

"Wanna tell me what's going on?"

"You've already helped a lot, Alcide, thanks," Brooke said. "Wanna tell me why we didn't just call him first? Would've saved us a lot of trouble."

"I didn't think about it…" she shrugged. "And neither did you, so don't start!"

"Well, thank you anyway," Brooke thanked the werewolves again.

"Go shift, kill stuff," Sookie told them. "Do whatever werewolves do. We got this," she said as she grabbed her sister by the arm and dragged her back into the dark forest.

"Have fun with your new pack!" Brooke waved at them before she disappeared behind the thick bushes.


Sookie and Brooklynne never found Jason, though after filling his voicemail with messages and having walked through the woods for hours, both sisters decided to go home, knowing Jason wouldn't be turning into a giant cat after all.

Brooklynne collapsed on the couch and it was moment like this she wished Eric was around so he could give her an energizing amount of his blood. Sookie had gotten into the shower, and Brooklynne was about to reach the stairs when the front door slammed opened, startling her.

She jumped, but quickly relaxed as she saw it was only Eric. However, her worry came back just as fast when she saw his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Turns out the witch means business."

"What happened?"

"Luis is dead, he tried to kill Bill," he said as he closed the door before making his way to the living room.

"Luis? The sheriff of area 3?" she asked as she followed him. "What got into him?"

"The witch. She's a necromancer, she can control the dead."

"Marnie made him attack Bill?"

"Not Marnie. She's being possessed by another witch, a dead one. Her name is Antonia. She hates vampires, she's already killed a lot of us back when she was alive. She made them rise during the day. Bill thinks she's going to try it again, tomorrow."

"What? She wants to make you meet the sun?"

"I'm gonna need your help," he said as he took her face in his hands.

"Of course, what can I do?"

"I need you to silver me downstairs. No matter what happened, do not let me out of the chains."

She nodded as she put her hands over his. "I know. I won't."