A/N: Hey all! I lied - you'll get three chapters again this week, and likely next, because I've been a writing fool. Poor you. :P Thank you to everyone who has left me a review. I really do appreciate it. Even the ones that make me cry. I'm looking at you, sluggysmom. Thanks, as always, to my fantastic beta, friend, and sounding board, ilovemysteries.

Chapter 11

Unsettled and Settling In

For the first time in my life, I woke up from a sex dream that wasn't a nightmare. I was gasping, just on the edge of cumming. Holy shit. I reached down and slowly circled my clit with my fingers. I was so wet. I tried to make my imagination take up where the dream had left off, and I came hard, imagining Eric's mouth instead of my hand between my thighs. Um, wow. That was new. And kind of amazing.

Curious, I tentatively licked the fingers I'd used to finish myself off. Hmm. Not bad. And kinda hot. I guess I got to join the rest of the world and be a pervert now.

I got up, used the bathroom, washed my hands, brushed my teeth and threw on the shorts and t-shirt I'd worn for a few minutes the night before. I wandered into the kitchen and stood in front of the fridge with the door open for a couple of minutes, trying to decide what to have. The groceries I'd written down yesterday weren't here yet, so I decided to make myself bacon and eggs and toast. Possibly hold the eggs if they turned out rubbery.

I discovered that cooking is a whole lot less straightforward than something like fighting, since there is such a wide spectrum of tools and ingredients. The personal cooking manuals got me through eventually, and everything tasted fine. Even the eggs, which I fried over easy in bacon fat. I did the dishes and wandered out to the back yard. I stripped off and dove in, swimming laps until I didn't feel like swimming any longer. I pulled myself out and laid down on a chaise in the sunshine.

The patio door opened, and a man came out. Huh. I shaded my eyes with my hand. Apparently, this was Bobby, Eric's day guy. Whoops. I wasn't dressed for company. In fact, I wasn't dressed at all. But it was fine. I could take him, easy. "Hey. I'm Sookie."

"Uh… Um… Uh… Hi? I'm… uh… Bobby. Bobby Burnham. I… uuuuuhhhh… I work for Master Northman."

Master. Ha! "Oh, hey, Bobby. Nice to meet you. I work for Eric, too."

Well. That was maybe the wrong thing to say. Bobby seemed to think that I was some kind of executive assistant prostitute hybrid. I supposed I couldn't blame him too much, considering.

"Uh… Nice to meet you, too." He took one more long look, and then ran back inside. I kept track of his movements as he put away the groceries and set the new phone and laptop on the table. Score! Except spyware was successfully installed on both. And unfortunately, Bobby had the documentation on said spyware in a sealed envelope instead of in his noggin. It was not from the NSA, so I couldn't go on what I'd had in the past. Oh, well. Can't win 'em all. I could still use them for anything I didn't mind Eric, and therefore the US government, knowing about.

I found the wifi password in Bobby's brain, but then something occurred to me. I threw on my clothes and ran inside before he could leave. "Hey, Bobby? Do you think you could get that laptop set up for me, please? I don't know the wifi password." I bit my lip and stuck out my boobs a little for the camera. I didn't expect it to convince Bobby, I just didn't want Eric to catch on to what I was doing.

"Uh… I don't know. Master hasn't told me it was OK."

A couple of days earlier, I wondered if I could hypnotize people. Maybe do my own kind of glamouring. I caught Bobby's eye and gave him a bit of a mental push. "Bobby, please connect my new laptop to Eric's wifi."

"Uh… OK."

Holy shit. He opened up the box, plugged in the laptop, and started getting it all ready to go. I ever-so-casually went back outside and laid in the sun. I left my clothes on this time.

Um. So apparently I can do that now. Or, maybe he wanted to impress me, and changed his mind on his own? No, there was no rubbed away area on his brain for that memory, but it was hazy and indistinct. I did something. I could see it. Vampires make people do things, and then erase their memories and install new ones so that they think it was their own idea. I think I had actually convinced Bobby to change his mind. Same effect, different execution.

Maybe it was just a fluke? It's possible. It probably wasn't that hard to convince him. I could try to push him to do something harder, but I didn't want to raise any red flags on video. I didn't think Eric would be suspicious so far; he hadn't told Bobby not to set up the wifi, so he should come to the conclusion that Bobby had been persuaded by my boobs and not mind control.

But I'm pretty sure I can do mind control now. At least for easy things. And maybe easy people. I really had some experimenting to do.

After Bobby was finished, he came back outside. He was very relieved and very disappointed that I still had my clothes on. "It's all hooked up Miss… Uh…"

"Sookie. Just Sookie. Thanks, Bobby. You've been a huge help."

He nodded awkwardly and left. Weird guy.

I wandered inside and sat down in front of the laptop at the kitchen island. I guessed I would make sure the spyware was doing its job. I used the Building H security guys' favourite places to find online porn, and started downloading several videos. It would probably take all day, but I had lots of time. And it wasn't like I planned to watch it anyway.

I wandered back into the kitchen. Man, I just didn't know what to do with myself with all of this free time. There was a piece of paper and a pen on the island again, so I added exercise equipment. I checked the time - 5:30. Ugh. Eric wouldn't be up for at least three more hours. What in the hell was I going to do with myself? I was done just sitting around. I put on some socks and sneakers, and went for a run. I didn't go as fast as I could - it was daylight, and if people saw, there would be questions. I kept up an easy pace and went down every street in the neighbourhood. The houses were large and quite far apart, each one sitting on at least a couple of acres. Trying to turn that into a mental map of the area was tricky after only one pass through. I had lots of time, so I ran it again twice more, and had the layout down pat. I put in the entry code at the front door back home, and went inside. Was this home? I had no idea.

Back in the kitchen, I jotted chocolate milk, ice cream, and a fruit platter down on the list, then drank my blood and ate a banana. Almost two hours to go. Ugh. I went back out to the pool, stripped, jumped back in and swam for a while again. Then I laid down on a chaise in the early evening sun and, apparently, fell asleep.

"Wake up."

Oh shit. Someone sounded pissed. I opened one eye. Oh, yeah. Standing down by my feet. Fangs down. I guessed super duper pissed. I had no idea downloading porn and taking a nap were so egregious. Dammit, I should have a stake out here. Play it cool, Sookie. I yawned, stretched, and said, "Hey. I guess I fell asleep. Sorry. I'll get up and get dressed."

"See that you do."

He turned around and stormed back into the house. I guess someone got up on the wrong side of the coffin this evening. What the fuck was his problem? From what I'd "heard" vampires sure as hell weren't prudes. I had stayed far away from any of Belinda's sexytime memories - I was not remotely into voyeurism - but she had seen tons of casual nudity during her short time as a day person. If it was anyone else, I would just be able to tell why Eric was so angry. Not being able to read his mind was the worst. I depended on my telepathy, dammit. How was I supposed to learn to trust someone if I couldn't know everything he was thinking? Now I was pissed, too.

I stormed in behind him. I went over to the fridge, yanked the door open, and grabbed the milk. I chugged the rest of the carton. I slammed the refrigerator door closed, and threw the empty in the trash. I turned around and he was standing in front of the laptop, his arms crossed. He still looked pissed, but the corner of his lip was twitching. I didn't have the patience for this shit right now. I suppose this was what the NSA meant when they said that I was reactive and temperamental. "What?" I snapped at him.

He gestured at the computer. "Tantric Vampire Sex? Pornography? With fake vampires?"

I shrugged, deflating. "I wanted to give your IT schmucks something to do."

He lost control of the twitch, and it turned into almost a smile.

The door from the garage opened, and another vampire walked in. She was beautiful - petite and blonde with huge blue eyes. Holy shit. This had been Belinda's boss. Belinda, the chatty small business owner from the convention whom I had just thought of. I felt like I had met that girl a year ago rather than, what? The morning before last?

As everyone on my "team" was well aware, I fucked with people like it was my job. I was still a little pissed, so I decided to fuck with Eric and his cute little friend, hard. I was nonchalant. Bored, even. "Oh. Hey, Pam."

They froze, staring at me. Oh, man. Keep a straight face, Sookie. Look natural… I took a cue from Eric and leaned against the nearest wall. Seconds ticked by. I had to slow down my heart rate. Fuck. I was going to have to make the next move. I felt like Laura Dern standing between a couple of velociraptors. Hey, look at me with a pop culture reference, and in the middle of a crisis! "I met Belinda the other day. She says hi."

A breath. Two. Then they looked at each other and burst out laughing. Oh, thank fuck. I walked over to the island and wrote Jurassic Park on DVD and milk on the list.

"Oh, Eric. I like this one. And she's young enough to housebreak. I'll even share! Let's keep her."

I liked Pam a lot, too. We didn't get any work done. The three of us sat around for a couple of hours and just talked. I told them about meeting Belinda, and combing her memory (and everyone else's) for any information she might have on vampires after learning about Beaumont from Alcide a few days before. Apparently, not glamouring him had been an oversight. But I would have figured it out a few days later when Beaumont lost her shit, anyhow.

"So, you can just do a keyword search in someone's brain?" That was Pam.

I shrugged. The NSA already knew this, so I had no problem talking about it. "Pretty much. It's hard to describe. It isn't exactly like a hard drive with folders full of files and I can just pop in a word, hit enter and go. But it's a decent metaphor, I guess."

"And you can't read vampire minds?" Eric, this time, a very serious look on his face. He was doing the touching fingertips thing again.

"Nope. Can't read vampires or demons. Those are the only ones so far, anyhow. Weres and shifters used to be harder, but they aren't really any more difficult than humans now." I was sitting on the island, which separated the kitchen from the dining room. Pam and Eric were sitting at the dining room table with glasses of blood.

"Eric, why does she smell so delicious?"

"Pam."

"Excuse me?"

"Have you had a taste? Can I have one?"

"Pamela. Enough."

"I'll glamour her to forget, of course…"

Wow. Awkward. Definitely sleeping with a stake tonight. "Oh! That doesn't work on me. At least, I'm pretty sure that it doesn't. Beaumont didn't have any more luck getting me to do shit that I didn't want to do than anyone else did, even when she made my brain tingle. Well, not until she beat the submission into me." And, sometimes, not even then.

Not that they had to force me to work hard! I worked my ass off. But there are many things that I did and that were done to me that I did not consent to, and would not have consented to had I not been forced.

Eric confirmed that I can't be glamoured. Pam looked really surprised. And kind of disappointed. "Sorry, Pam. You're not my type."

Actually, she kind of was. I mean quiet was way more important than male. I would rather do her than almost anyone else. But I still wasn't interested. But, if Eric…

No. No, Sookie. No. Absolutely positively not. It was a completely terrible idea. I could not make myself vulnerable like that. Plus he seemed to be reactive and temperamental worse than I was.

What if I could keep it to just fucking? I didn't have to get invested, right? Just screw around. Have a good time. No strings…

Such bullshit. I was already mooning over him.

I was so screwed.

Hopefully..?

No, I was being ridiculous. He hadn't given me one indication that he was remotely interested in me. Hell, for some reason, my naked body enraged him. Plus he said that he would never touch me in an inappropriate way. Maybe he's gay? Of course, I had gone from never wanting to be touched at all to wanting to be touched all over in a very inappropriate way. But we'd only held hands. I didn't even know if I would be able to stand that much contact.

Plus it would be a terrible idea, and my heart would get broken, and it might ruin Eric's career, and I just needed to go back to being completely uninterested in sex and love and relationships.

Ok. That went way too far. I was spiralling out of control again. I excused myself to the bathroom. What I needed was to feel in control again. I left my bedroom door open, and closed the bathroom door behind me, but kept the knob turned and opened it right back up again. I pulled it almost to, so it would dampen the sound of the flush and water running, but not make any noise. Hopefully they weren't paying too close attention. I quietly opened the bathroom door when I was done and tiptoed back into the bedroom.

Eric had a mix of marble floors and thick plush rugs. I put on some socks and silently moved back toward the kitchen. I was trained in stealth, and my senses were enhanced; my hearing was nearly as good as a Were's in human form. I could finally hear them from three rooms away, if I held my breath.

"So, what is she?"

"We're not sure. The background check into the family revealed nothing. Everyone in the family tree is human, as far as we could tell, going back five or six generations. Unless the history was not recorded properly."

"Unless someone screwed around, you mean."

"Precisely. My guess would be…" A long pause.

"What? Your guess would be what?"

I heard the chair leg scrape the floor, and I walked backwards as quickly and quietly as I could until I got back to my bedroom. I had made it out of sight in time. I turned and ran into the bathroom, and walked right back out again, my hand on the doorknob, just as they walked in.

"Oh, hey, guys! What's up?"

Eric squinted. He looked down at my feet. I could tell he suspected that I'd been spying, but wasn't quite sure. He noticed the socks and raised an eyebrow. He wanted me to give something away. He was trying to get me to talk. If I tried to explain myself, I would sound guilty and give up valuable information. But this wasn't my first rodeo. I would keep my mouth shut.

And then it hit me. He almost certainly had cameras everywhere. He was probably going to see it all anyhow. Dammit.

Oh well. Fuck it. They trained me to be a spy. I'll do what they taught me to do - keep my mouth shut, deny, lie, and obfuscate. If I got caught, I'd take whatever punishment he wanted to mete out. I needed all of the information about myself I could get.

I just looked at them. I wasn't going to give in this time. I kept a rein on my emotions and managed to keep my cool. And Eric blinked first. "It's nothing. Pam and I have work to do elsewhere tonight. I will be back before dawn. We have a mission tomorrow, so get adequate rest." He waited a beat. "I believe Bobby placed your new bathing suits in your closet." That twitch in his lip again.

"Ok. Thanks. I guess I'll make something to eat and go to bed. It was great to meet you, Pam."

"You too, Sookie. I can't wait to smell you again. See you later."

"Good night."

They both left. I really didn't want to cook anything for just myself. What a pain. I thought about going for another spoonful of peanut butter, and then cursed myself for being lazy. I cooked up some bacon and chicken thighs and put them in a big salad, and ate it in front of the TV. It was past three in the morning and there was a rerun on of a sitcom I had watched when I was a little girl. For the second time in as many nights, I was reminded so strongly of that other life I could hardly believe was once mine. It didn't even seem real any more, like it only ever existed in a dream. I thought of us together in the living room watching TV, Mama and Daddy cuddling and kissing on the couch, Jason on the recliner, the footstool up, leaned back with his hands laced behind his head, and me lying on my stomach on the floor, my chin in my hands and my bare feet in the air.

I turned the TV off and did the dishes. I got a shower and shaved and marveled at the smoothness. I was never allowed razors before. Knives and guns, but no razors. I climbed into bed and scanned the house. I was all alone. And I realized that, unlike last night, Eric hadn't touched me today at all. In fact, he acted like I was contagious or something. He had been friendly enough when we were chatting, but he was still distant, and much cooler than he'd been the night before. His behaviour towards me was as all over the place as my emotions. And I realized that I missed it. I missed it very much.

For the first time in my life, I fell asleep in a building all by myself. I kept a stake under my pillow.