"Alright," he said standing and reaching for my hand. "Enough of such serious matters for the night. Let's go dance."

I gratefully accepted his hand and stood with him and allowed him to lead me out to the main floor of Fangtasia. I don't know what I expected, but my senses were assaulted the moment we went out there. I remember the first time I had come, with Bill, and being frustrated at how everyone was just thinking about sex. That was preferable to this. My nose was infiltrated by the smells of sweat, fake leather and lust. The first human I looked at was sweating and from several feet away I could see a single drop of sweat running down his face. Everything was so loud too, from the music to conversations, to the sounds of people rubbing against one another. I realized then that I had uncomfortably tightened my grip on Eric's hand and frozen in place as soon as we had walked in.

Eric leaned down and whispered in my ear, "It will get easier with time. You'll get used to it."

I looked up at him and realized this was one of the things that he had meant about how I would react among humans, not so much that he thought I would just start randomly biting them, although I'm sure that is also a concern among the freshly turned. He kissed the top of my head and started walking again and this time I went with him and loosened my death grip on his hand.

He led me out onto the dance floor and while we danced I practiced listening to the people around us without having it be a total onslaught like it used to be. I pictured my shields like metal plates snapping into one another and carefully lowered one, or a small group at a time.

For the most part, my search was as fruitless as it had been the first time I had come here. Lots of people thinking about sex, trying to figure out how to get the attention of a vampire. What was new this time was the amount of women thinking hateful things about me and what could I possibly have that they don't. One in particular was thinking particularly nasty things about me.

Ew, what could he possibly see in her? She's fat and her tits are probably fake. Wonder if that's even her real hair color? I bet she's a good lay, most trashy girls are. Can't imagine what else he could possibly like about her. She's not even dressed right. What is she thinking coming to a vamp bar and not even knowing how they like to dress?

I burst out laughing at the last line of her inner, hateful monologue. Eric looked down at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Sorry, it's just hilarious how little some of the people who come here actually know about vampires." I nodded my head towards the woman who had been silently hating me. "She thinks the way I'm dressed is offensive because I'm not dressed in black the way vampires like."

He smiled. "And what else have you discovered?"

"Oh, just that basically everyone here hates me and wants to know what I have that they don't to have gotten your attention."

He spun me around and when he brought me back to him he held me closer and whispered into my ear. "If they can't see it, they are fools."

We continued dancing for a few more songs. I have always enjoyed dancing, and I'm pretty good at it. Eric snarled at a guy who tried to cut in and dance with me. The guy looked like he was going to pee himself. I listened in to people a few times to see if I picked up any suspicious activity, but it was nice to have it be more of a choice rather than struggling to hold up my shields. I did find one underage person who had used her older sister's ID to get in, so I told Eric and he had Pam remove the girl and ban her from the premises.

The club was closing, so we went back to his office as he had a few things he had to sign before we could head home.

"Do you like doing paperwork?" I asked him.

He looked at me with a baffled expression. "Why would I enjoy this?" he asked while gesturing to the endless piles of paperwork in front of him.

"I could probably help with some of it. I used to help Sam with order forms and receipts and things. I'm good at organizing and scheduling things."

"If you want to help, I would certainly not complain, but it is not necessary."

I shrugged. "I don't mind it and you've got a million other things to do. Plus this way I'd feel like I was earning my keep."

He locked his eyes on me. "As I told you before, it is my duty to take care of you. You do not need to earn my care."

His use of the word duty hurt a little bit. I was getting so many mixed signals from him and trying to figure his feelings out but even our bond wasn't really giving me any insight. He talked about caring for me as though he did it because it was required, but he was also gentle and affectionate. If it hadn't been for the relationship with "my" Eric right before I was turned things would probably be much more clear.

"I know it's your duty," I said quietly. "I just wanted to help."

He handed me a stack of order forms and receipts and asked me to check them against each other. While I was working on them, he left for a few moments and came back with a couple glasses of blood. He handed one to me and drank the other himself. I accepted it gratefully. After such a crazy night, I was starting to get very hungry.

It wasn't long before I had completed a few months worth of paperwork and then organized the other piles to make them easier to sort through. Eric had been busy typing and sending faxes the whole time. When he finished and shut down his computer, he seemed very pleased at how much I had accomplished.

"How would you like to be a manager of the club?"

"What?" I was shocked by the offer.

"You clearly know what you're doing when it comes to the paperwork side of things. Would you feel comfortable placing orders, creating schedules and training the human waitstaff?"

I smiled. "I would love that!"

"Excellent." He nodded. "I hate doing paperwork and Pam isn't tremendously helpful when it comes to some of those things. Alright, let's head home for the night."

As we settled in to our bed, I had to ask Eric the question that had been nagging at me since I rose as a vampire.

"Eric?"

"Yes?"

"Other than maker and child, what is our relationship to each other?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…before Debbie shot me we were together in a romantic sense. And we had sex that first night, and you're very affectionate with me. I'm confused."

He was quiet for a moment. "My feelings for you are…complicated. Good night Sookie."

I felt like that was a bullshit copout, but I didn't feel comfortable pressing the issue so I just snuggled down into the blanket next to him and allowed myself to be pulled to sleep by the dawn.

When I rose the next evening, I was so excited and yet nervous to see Jason that I used vampire speed to get through showering, makeup and dressing. It was actually kind of fun to see how fast I could do things and not sacrifice quality for efficiency. Once I was ready for the day…or night I suppose would be the proper term, I zipped up to the kitchen to get my first meal. Eric was sitting at the counter with his laptop and a glass of blood and when I appeared next to him he smiled.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked.

Instead of answering I used my new speed to run around the entirety of the house as fast as I could and stopped in front of him again, laughing like a crazy person.

"I'm glad to see you trying out your new abilities. Get yourself some blood, we'll head out to your old house shortly."

It was only 6:30 but it takes a bit to get to Bon Temps from Shreveport and I wanted to get there before my brother did, and Eric obviously knew this.

I sat down to have my blood- I poured it into a glass like Eric did; it seemed more civilized than biting into a bag. When I finished, I grabbed both of our glasses and washed them.

"You could have left those for Wanda," he said.

"I could have, but I'm not going to. I've always cleaned up after myself and don't see any reason to stop now."

He shrugged.

"Do you have everything you need before we head to your house?"

I ran back to our room and grabbed my purse. "Ready!"

"Would you rather drive, or fly?" He asked.

He gestured for me to follow him out into the yard, so I did. He stood in front of me and told me to test my ability to leave the ground.

"How am I supposed to do that?!"

"Just relax, and focus on the idea of your body lifting off the ground."

I closed my eyes and thought about floating, imagining myself lifting up into the air.

"Great job! Come on back now." Eric said, but his voice sounded strangely far away. I opened my eyes and realized that I had levitated up above the house. I started panicking which made me lose focus and I started falling. Before I could even scream, Eric had flown into the air and caught me and set me gently back on the ground.

"It wouldn't have killed you, but it would have hurt a lot," he said. "That was very impressive for a first attempt though, I just wanted to see if you could get your feet off the ground. You may have a knack for flying. Pam is going to be so pissed." He said the last part with a wicked grin.

He scooped me up bridal style and took to the air. At first I kept my eyes clamped shut. Being up in the air didn't feel very natural to me, but after a few minutes I realized there was no way that he was going to drop me, so I opened my eyes. The night sky was beautiful, so clear and full of stars once we were above the buildings of the city. Flying was faster than driving, even at a somewhat relaxed pace because there was no traffic or roads to stay on, he could just take the most direct path, and before I knew it we were landing on my front porch.

It was comforting and yet strange being back home. I'd only been gone a couple days, but everything was so different. I went inside to see if there was anything I wanted or needed to take with me back to Eric's, but there wasn't anything. Seeing all of my things that I had so loved and treasured with my new eyes, I could see the poor quality in comparison with what was at Eric's, why Pam often scoffed at my clothing choices. I still appreciated all I'd had and what Gran and I had worked so hard for all those years, but I felt much less sentimental attachment than I once had. It was just "stuff." I know if I was still human I would be desperately trying to return to my home and it was confusing noticing the changes in myself in ways other than just physical matters.

I went back outside and sat on the steps. Eric came over and sat next to me.

"It already feels different, doesn't it?" He asked quietly.

I nodded.

"I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "The alternative is being truly and finally dead. I prefer this so far."

"I am glad to hear that."

I heard the crunch of tires on gravel and knew Jason was coming up the driveway. Suddenly I was much more worried than excited about seeing him. Eric leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"As your maker, I command you not to hurt or threaten your brother, no matter how he reacts tonight."

I relaxed. "Thank you."

Jason's truck pulled up in front of the porch and I stood to greet him. He climbed down and walked over.

"Hey sis, what's going on?"

Eric stood and walked over to the porch swing, and I walked down the steps to greet Jason.

"Something's different about you," he said cautiously. "What's with the audience?" he gestured to Eric who was watching us closely although giving us a bit of space.

I wasn't sure where to begin. "You remember a few months ago when I went out of town? I went with someone named Alcide because Bill had been kidnapped and he helped me find him. Well, his ex didn't like that he was going around town with me and has tried to get me killed on more than one occasion."

His expression darkened, but he nodded for me to go on.

"Bill is back in town and he didn't like that I had been seeing someone else."

"The big guy?" he asked, looking at Eric.

I nodded. "Well, apparently Bill didn't love me, he just wanted me for my…unusual ability," I pointed at my head, "and he and Debbie, that's Alcide's ex, decided to do something about it. She came to my house and shot me and Bill thought he would save me and I'd get back with him, but I was losing too much blood. Thankfully, Eric was at my house and he saved me. But the only way for him to do that was…to turn me."

Jason just stared at me while he processed everything. "Fuck!" he finally burst out. He started pacing around the yard. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him!"

"Jase?" I had to get him to focus, and make sure he didn't mean he was going to go after Eric for turning me. "Who are you going to kill?"

"Bill, who do you think? That fucker thinks he can get my baby sister hurt and not have anything happen to him? I don't care if he's a vamp, I'm gonna fucking kill him!"

"So…you're not mad about Eric turning me?"

"Why would I be mad at the guy that saved you?!"

I let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Wait, I mean…you guys ain't gonna eat me, right?"

I just stared at him.

He blushed. "Sorry, I talk without thinking sometimes. So, you're ok? I mean, apart from having to drink blood and avoid the sun?"

I smiled, "I'm ok if we're ok."

He hugged me. "I love you sis. I'm going to miss seeing you more often, but as long as I know you're safe, that's all that matters to me." He released me and walked over to Eric and stuck out his hand. "Thanks man. You saved her, and that means the world to me." Eric shook his hand, even though vampires normally avoid doing so.

"So what are we going to do about Compton?" Jason asked. That's my brother, always ready to jump into action. I can't count the amount of times he got in trouble in school for fighting kids who picked on me. It was nice to see that things hadn't changed, even if the circumstances were far more severe now.

"Compton has been jailed and as of now is no threat to your sister."

Jason nodded. "I hope you let that fucker rot in there. Well, you guys need any help with anything, let me know. Not really sure what use I can be, but if you can find one, I'm always here for you Sook. Now I know you're ok, I'm gonna go meet Hoyt at Merlottes and have a couple drinks."

I must have made a face at the mention of Merlottes, because he frowned. "What?"

I shook my head. "Sam, didn't exactly take the news well. I called him last night to explain why I wouldn't be in to work and he said some nasty things. But whatever, you go relax, I know this was a lot to drop on you." I pulled him in for one more hug. "Love you. Take care of yourself and say hi to Hoyt for me."

He said he would and that he loved me too. Then he pointed at Eric, "I can trust you to take care of her, right?"

Eric nodded soberly.

"Alright then. I guess I'll see y'all later." He waved and got back into his truck and drove off.

I flopped down on the steps feeling a million times lighter. There was still so much looming overhead but at least I no longer had to worry about things between Jason and me. Eric would figure out what to do about Bill and the Queen and then we could just carry on with our "lives".