I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. And now, a wonderful New Year's. :-)

I really hope you will enjoy this chapter. If not, feel free to let me know. I'm hoping it's not badly written, I always get so nervous whenever I post a new chapter. I want to thank you all so much for your alerts, and reviews. They're so encouraging. You are all so wonderful, and I love you all xxx

Here goes this chapter... Again, hope it's not a disappointment!

Chapter Ten

Next morning at lunchtime, Tara and I were stretched out in our school shorts and plain white school T, with the Bon Temps High logo embroidered on the side breast pocket, taking advantage of the sunny weather. Unluckily for me, it took me a whole lot of hours for my skin to even start going brown and our lunchbreak went only for twenty-five minutes.

We were having ourselves a nice relaxing time, until Tara gave out an ear-splitting squeal from right near my ear. My eyes flickered open and, before I knew it, Jason was spraying water directly from the nozzle of his water bottle all over Tara's legs.

Thanks to Jason, the calm was quickly ruined.

"Jason, you dumb ass motherfucker!" Tara was squealing in shock.

Just as he was sharing a hearty belly-laugh at her expense, she picked the perfect moment to wrench the water bottle free from his hand. Next thing I knew, Tara was getting her sweet revenge, spraying water right back into Jason's face. He groaned, then took it even further by shaking his wet face and hair all over Tara, like a dog shaking out it's fur and splashing their owner after they'd given them a bath.

I laughed; I couldn't seem able to help myself.

I could tell Tara was in a huff, though; She turned her back on him, while he was laughing like a big oaf at her. Only Tara wasn't laughing with him. She returned back to her place beside me, sulking in silence.

"Oh, hey there, sis." Jason looked all surprised when he saw me sitting there for some reason. "Didn't see you sitting there for a moment." He brought the bottom of his shirt up to mop at his dripping wet face. "How was Gran this morning?"

"She's fine, Jason. Same as always."

"That's good. Hey, that bloodsucker still living next door?"

It took everything within me not to roll my eyes. Typical Jason. Always so openly hostile when it came to vampires. "He sure is," I said. "But he hasn't come around in a while. I think Gran's having him over tonight."

"Oh, great," Jason groaned in disgust. "Remind me to stay over at Hoyt's tonight, then." I noticed Jason was acting a little funny, a little more... distracted than usual.

He kept his eyes on Tara, who had returned to lying with her legs stretched out right beside me, like their little water fight incident hadn't ever happened. We were both keen on working on our tan- Not that Tara needed to in the slightest. She always had such a flawless and natural, dark complexion that always had me mighty envious.

I felt a little worried for my older brother, those familiar stirrings of sisterly concern that often came about. I think about every brother and sister on the planet knew those itching feelings.

Just to check, I moved my hand over to touch his forearm, which he didn't think nothing much of. Jason and I had always been close, like two peas in a pod, almost, and we'd always hug and all. Anyway, he wasn't really paying any attention or took much notice of his younger sister touching his arm but... a second later, I was mighty glad I had made the choice to.

Soon as Tara brought her eyes up to look at him, he grinned brightly over at her, a little guilty.

Touching his arm seemed to bring out a whole clear idea of where his thoughts were going, and Tara was written all over them.

This would take some time to get used to, being fully aware now that whenever I tended to touch someone, I'd hear everything they were thinking. I still hadn't gotten around to talking to Eric Northman yet. It was like last night, he had literally flown off the edge of the earth.

And still, I was absolutely dying to talk to him; Not just about this funny-mind reading business I was suddenly experiencing, but the whole Alcide-babysitting business, too. Honestly, I felt like steam was going to blow out of my ears everytime I thought about it.

I worked on keeping my face perfectly straight, while I listened in.

"Damn, Tara has gotten real pretty this year," his thoughts were flowing out, fast and restless. "Wonder why I hadn't noticed it before? Wonder if I should ask her out...but naw, maybe I'm not good-looking enough for her." Over that little trail of doubtful thinking, he frowned and brought his hand up to ruffle his wiry brown hair. "Nah," he went on, recovering visably. He looked down at the table, smiling foolishly. "I know I'm pretty much a fine-looking motherfucker...and she'd be crazy not to think so herself."

Whoa, Jason was quite egocentric whenever he wanted to be. Who would have thought of it? Now I was feeling all sorts of proud over my newly found ability to delve into people's brains when touching them. Although it got me thinking I must be crazier than a lunatic, it was quite nice to know secrets.

All this time, and I hadn't even had the slightest idea Jason thought something special of my best friend...

I wondered if Tara so happened to feel the same and, unconsciously, my hand touched the shoulder closest to me. Tara turned and met my eyes and I noticed she looked distinctively startled that I had just placed my hand on her, out of the blue.

I had to focus real hard. "Why is Sookie groping my shoulder, like that?" Her dark eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets over that suspicious train of thought. "Holy shit, she don't know I like her brother, does she? I mean, I can't help it. He's a fine-looking specimen and when he smiles at me like that, I get the jitters. Sookie would disown me as her friend if I ever did something about it, though... I know she would."

"Tara," I smiled at her, giving her a big reassuring smile. "If you want to start seeing Jason, I won't mind. So long as he doesn't hurt your heart." I spun around to give Jason a warning glare, in which he returned with a perplexed look. "I mean, you both clearly like each other a real lot, I can tell," I added, confidently. "Neither of you have to ask for my permission, I just don't want this to drive a wedge through our friendship, Tara." I finished my babbling by giving her shoulder a light comforting squeeze.

Now Tara and Jason were eyeballing me like I was crazy. Which I was not.

"Sook, what are you talkin' about?" Jason said, scanning his eyes all over my face for any hints. He looked awfully scared. "Where did all that talk just come from?" he laughed out, a little nervously.

"I'm just feeling extra perceptive today," I simply told him, grinning madly at my little inside joke.

"Right," Tara laughed anxiously, after a few startled moments of silence recovering. "Sookie, that was some seriously creepy shit, girl."

"Yeah, what... she said..." Jason trailed off, just above a deep mumble.

I glanced over at him, expectant. I was almost anticipating the second the confessions would begin, as well as maybe a few little details exchanged so they could get together on a date one night after school, only they never did... which got me very mad at Jason. Not that he was the only one to blame, of course.

"Anyway, uh, later," Jason said quickly, reddening. He hopped off the lunch table we were lounging on, and started jogging away for dear life. Just with the way he ran, I could tell he was all embarrassed.

"Can you believe that?" I said in pure outrage over at Tara, still staring right where he had disappeared from. "My brother is such a girl! He can't even act like a man and tell you how he really feels!"

Next to me, Tara grew very interested all of a sudden. "Why, Sookie, has your brother said somethin' about me?" She looked all flustered at the mere idea, curling her dark hair 'round her fingers absent-mindedly. "I honestly never knew I was the type of girl he even looked at." She gave me a severe stare. "Are you for real, or were you just playing with me, Sookie?"

"Hell, yes, Tara, I'm for real," I said, grinning widely to show my delight for the two of them. "Jason thinks you're real pretty, but he is doubting whether you think he is good-looking or not."

For a moment there, I felt a little sick with guilt for just blubbering out what he was thinking, like that. They were Jason's own string of private thoughts and insecurities and he probably wouldn't have appreciated me telling Tara, not even a single soul.

I started feeling like such a bad sister to Jason.

"Whoa," Tara muttered. She was practically glowing. "I never knew he even thought about me, like that. Sure, he teases me a whole lot." She laughed loudly, "Oh, and by the way... he is super good-looking."

I frowned, considering how Jason must have looked in other girl's eyes. Sure, he was handsome- even I could see that, you'd have to be blind. But he was just same-old icky Jason to me. Immature, gross... Plus, his socks smelled real bad whenever he came home from training at the gym.

Nothing all that special in my books. Afterall, he was my brother and that automatically made him revolting in my eyes.

"Hell, even Lafayette agrees on that," Tara was saying to herself, laughing. "He is gonna be so pissed when he finds out about this. Now he'll have no chance in hell of turning Jason gay! Not after I'm done with him, anyway." A very deviant, blindingly white smile came across her face.

I turned my head away, blowing a very rude raspberry, and tried my very best to block everything else of her indulgent mumblings out of my ears.

Gross. Too much information.

She laughed at the noise, then suddenly turned to stare me down with a deadly serious expression on her face. "Your turn, Sookie Stackhouse."

I felt a pang of deep unease. "My turn for what, Tara Thornton?" I asked innocently, pretending to misunderstand her, though that couldn't have been farther from the truth. I knew what she was hinting at, and I wasn't going to be telling her nothing.

"You know what I mean, Sookie," she said very slowly, and her dark face hardened in determination. "I can't be the only one with a crush here. Which boy do you have your eye on?"

"Tara, you know me," I forced out with a short giggle, like it was obvious. "I don't get silly schoolgirl crushes on boys. I have my eyes planted on no one, thank you very much!"

Tara grinned, but she wouldn't let me off that easily. She knudged me in the elbow with her arm. "Girl, I see straight through you," she carried on. We were seriously treading on some dangerous ground here, and she sure knew it. "Come on, Sookie," she started begging. "You now know I like your brother- and I don't even want to start thinkin' how you knew that!"

"All right, all right," I sighed, resignedly. "Maybe there is someone..."

Tara had always been ruthless whenever it came to getting her own way. When it came to secrets, we always had to be on even ground.

"Girl, I knew it," she giggled, victoriously. "I knew there was something different about you. Now, spill."

"There's something different about me?" I asked, a little self-conscious all of a sudden. I didn't know why she found there was something different about me, exactly. When I woke up this morning, I felt and looked exactly like the same Sookie I always was. Was there something a little off about my appearance today, something more eye-catching than the norm?

"I don't know..." she started uncertainly, blinking at me hard. Her eyes raked down my face, while she considered any noticable differences. "But, there is totally something about you today."

Now I felt a little spooked out. "Well, I don't feel any different," I told her, eyeing her worriedly. "I feel the same as I always do." I shrugged.

"Must be your crush that's doin' funny things to you," she teased, in a very tempting voice that made me want to spill the beans. Almost, anyway. Whatever beans I felt the need to spill, I did not know. I knew for certain I didn't have a crush on any of the boys at school. No one showed me much attention and no one had caught mine.

Well, there was one person who I found right now to be the most interesting man on the planet. But I definitely didn't have a crush on him, unless... it was this blood-bond thing making me act out in all sorts of crazy ways?

Eric Northman.

Speaking of which, I would be waiting for him outside on the porch tonight. I was feeling pretty determined. We needed to have another big talk, even if I had to wait all damn night for him... I would do it.

God, even thinking simply the name now left me with the oddest sense of calm inside. I didn't know what it was I had to feel calm about, especially not after what he told me, about all of these Weres and vampires coming after me. If anything unpleasant happened to Jason or Gran, I think I would have just about died.

- 00000 -

Waiting.

It seemed now all I ever did, was wait. Wait on this Eric Northman, wait on the very moment a Were or vampire would decide to spring up out of the bushes and set all of this nasty business into motion. Of course, I would have prefered none of this to ever happen. I was content right now, just with the way my life was.

Realistically, I was not looking forward to the moment Eric had to appear and show me just what it was he was protecting me from. While, I was left with building disappointment over how quiet life was at present, considering when Eric had told me all about how "challenging" a task it was supposedly to be keeping me safe... there was not much excitement.

Life was still all too quiet for a girl who was braced and ready for the danger and turmoil to come. Well, I did speak a little too early.

I was sitting, quiet as a mouse, on one of Gran's porch steps, with only the lamplight hanging on the ceiling to illuminate my dark surroundings and my favorite light blue, knitted cardigan draped around my shoulders to keep me all warm from the slight chill of the dropping Louisiana night-time temperature.

I was getting a little too comfortable with the peaceful, quiet sounds coming from in Gran's yard. Somewhere a while away, crickets chirped in the grass and Gran's ginger cat- who I only just let out for the night- was currently pawing and pouncing on said crickets. She was making a fun little game for herself, and I enjoyed watching her.

Then, right out of the corner of my eye, I saw him. I yelped, sitting up straight. Frankly, I almost had a heart-attack, even though I was expecting him sooner or later.

I decided he was not a sight you got used to easily. Really, who would? He was always quite the bewildering sight to see. He came through the rustling branches of the trees, and with what little I could see, I knew he was shirtless again. It didn't take a scientist to figure that out, though.

I wondered aimlessly where he happened to put the afghan I offered him to keep himself warm. Maybe he lost it, somewhere, out there... while he slept? Or maybe he took it underground with him? Either way, once Gran found out about her missing afghan blanket, she would not be a happy camper. Gran was crazy for her afghan blankets.

"Tiny human," he greeted, his voice no less remote and chilly, than usual.

I scooted over to make some room for him to sit by me on the step. After a clear moment of uncertainty, he accepted.

"I can smell the sunlight lingering on your skin," he said, in a very throaty voice, that was distinctively pleased. I felt truly touched by him saying that; I thought that was very sweet of him to say, but peculiar at all the same time.

It wasn't every day a person said something like that to me. A huge vampire, no less... and I took it as a huge complement. I stifled a big grin.

"Well, that's probably because I was sunbathing outside on my lunchbreak at school," I told him, readily. Then found myself wondering something I felt very intriguing.

I turned on the porch step I was sitting on to face him, running my eyes over his expressionless face, pensively. He did look awfully pale, then again... he was an undead vamp. I figured it was a natural characteristic of them for their skin to be all pale and pasty.

"When was the last time you felt the sun on your skin?" I asked, quietly. It was a question I found myself literally aching to know.

He looked distracted in deep thought for all of half a minute. His blue eyes glazed over with a funny distant look to them, like he were imagining, right then and there while sitting next to me, the warmly soothing sensations of the sunlight covering his skin. "Unfortunately, longer than I can remember," he said quietly, in a very dreamy slow voice.

I felt awfully sorry for him, then.

I couldn't ever imagine not spending at least one whole hour in the sun a day. But, then, with a feeling of deep unease knotting my stomach, I realized it probably wasn't possible for him. He was a vampire and, with what little I knew about them, the sun troubled them deeply. Hence why they hid out of the sun during the daylight hours. I got to thinking miserably, would he actually explode into ash or flames if he had attempted to go out into the sunlight?

Feeling full of courage, I even considered asking him that. Only, he bet me to it.

"Tiny Stackhouse, you have something you desire to talk to me about tonight?" Maybe it was pitifully obvious to him.

I had to think back hard, caught a little off-guard.

My head felt all swamped with all these new questions I was dying to ask him- about sunlight, mostly how he lived as a vampire, considering I knew nothing about him, other than that he was supposedly here in Bon Temps to protect me... Uh-huh! That's right; I was initially here to talk to him about something that I found very degrading having to accept and deal with.

"Well, that's right, I did," I started, a little hesitantly. "I learned you did something that made a very unhappy girl."

He tilted his head over at me. His expression was unreadable, which I had been expecting. This Eric Northman, I was noticing, was very frustrating to read. "Which is?" he pressed. He raised a pair of fair eyebrows.

It seemed now I had his complete and undivided attention, thank God.

"Well, I was at school yesterday and this freakishly tall man, clad in leather and plaid, comes over to me and tells me you sent him for me in order to 'babysit' me during the daylight hours..." I did not hesitate to show him just how angry I was over the whole arrangement. My face scrunched up and my voice went very loud at the 'babysitting' part.

Unsurprisingly, he was unfazed, which really, was not doing him any favors. A hysterical Sookie was what nightmares were made of, and any man ought to have taken heed the moment my voice went to a higher level.

"Yes," he merely stated, shrugging. His voice was offensively calm. Quiet. Bored. "Alcide."

I could feel my temper reaching boiling point, any second now. "Well, I do not appreciate having to report to a man every single time I decide to do something! No more than I appreciate knowing he'll be hanging around every hour of the day! It's... creepy."

"Then you'll just have to learn how to adjust," he said, in a very final tone. No compromise. No more discussing on the matter. It's finished, done and dusted. But, I would not be having that.

"No, Eric Northman," I said tartly, keeping at it knowing full well that any minute now, he could snap and easily drain every inch of life out of me. "I am fifteen years old! Who sends a full-grown man to babysit a fifteen year old girl?"

"I do." Again with that watching-paint-dry bored tone.

"Why can't you respect that I am old enough to take care of myself, and that having someone babysit me is not necessary? In fact, can't you see it's downright rude and degrading?"

I saw his big hands clench and unclench at his jeaned thighs, and I could tell I had finally pinched one of his nerves.

"You make me feel like I'm some defenseless little child, and this poor man... he hates children and avoids them like the plague! If you had any ounce of respect for that man, you will call him off looking after me right-"

Suddenly, his face was right by mine, a tendril of his golden blonde hair was falling into his forehead, and his fangs were bared. Well, it took them long enough to come out... "Do not push me," he warned, in a deep voice so terrifying it alarmed the heck out of me. "I do not tolerate things getting out of hand!"

Stubbornly, I kept at it. I just couldn't care and, once my temper was pushed, I found I was unstoppable. "Ugh. You're starting to sound just like my Grandmother, Eric Northman!"

"Tiny, I am much older than your Grandmother," he said more composedly through the fangs, surprising me. "One thousand years old, in fact."

Well, that brought our disagreement to a stand-still. It wasn't everyday someone said something like that, completely out of the blue.

"Whoa." It took me a little while to absorb that. "You are really a thousand years old?"

I remembered Mr. Compton telling me that, but I always had my doubts whether it were true or not. For some reason, it never occured to me vampires could actually truly be that old.

"Yes." His eyes ran over me coldly. "You sound surprised," he observed.

I took in a deep breath. "Well, I am."

"Why?"

Before I knew it, I was laughing out loud. It was a little nervous tick, or habit, of mine.

"Because, duh! You don't look old!" It seemed such a silly observation to make.

"That is because, Tiny Stackhouse, I was made vampire when I was twenty-four human years old."

I could tell by his face, sure enough, that he wasn't all that happy about having to reveal that. Maybe he felt especially touchy on the subject of his human life? Thinking it through, I could understand why, though. I would have felt especially touchy, too. Oh, God. Outliving Jason and Gran was something I had nightmares over. I could only imagine how it must have felt for him having outlived his family for that long.

"Don't you miss them?" I asked thoughtlessly, without really thinking beforehand. I didn't know how personal a question that was to a vampire.

He turned my question around, back onto me. "Do you miss your parents?" When he put it that way, I could see his point.

Suddenly, I came to the harrowing realization I was being incredibly rude. "I'm sorry," I said, earnestly. "I didn't mean to shower you with all of these hard questions. Sometimes I don't think before I speak."

"Believe me, I'm well aware."

I ignored that comment. I deserved it, anyhow. "So, what makes a vampire, like you, qualified to keep me safe?" I asked, keeping my voice purposely conversational and light. "Can you do any special tricks?"

"Plenty." He sounded very smug and pleased I'd asked.

"Like, what?" I pressed, feeling a little more excited than I ought to have. It was extremely childish of me, but I was eager to know and see for myself.

He smiled down at me. There was something naughty in that look, that unsettled me quite a bit. "Well, for starters... I can bite and fuck." There he goes, being all gross again. He went on, more seriously, "Though, I'm assuming you'd rather experience something a bit more... age-appropriate."

And then, he began to rise up from Gran's porch steps. His huge bare white feet were dangling a foot off the ground. Then, higher up he went. He was floating eerily against the dark bleak background of the night, ghost white in contrast. It was about the most amazing thing I had ever seen with my own two eyes.

"Oh, you can fly," I breathed out, in pure bewilderment.

"Indeed, I can. Does it impress you?"

Like he had to ask. "Of course, it does," I gasped. "I've never seen anything like it!"

He was doing a very good job of distracting me.

All the questions I had for him; all the anger and frustration I felt for answers, seemed to just evaporate when he was showing me all the wonderful abilities he could do. I felt, funnily enough, like the little girl in a store full of candy.

Now it was official. Lord, I had my first ever school-girl crush... and he wasn't even human. Not only that... but he was about as old as a relic!

I was so distracted, in fact, that I hadn't even taken notice of what was on the ground behind him.

At first, I was foolishly assuming it was nothing more than Gran's cat returning back into the yard.

I was dead wrong.

It was much bigger than her cat could ever be. Lots of blindingly white, silky fur slinking out through the branches into the grass.. A pair of upright, pointy ears, a long wet muzzle, a dripping wet tongue.

Some kind of big dog. Wolf, maybe?

I tried to warn Eric, signal to him the wild dog (or wolf, maybe? I couldn't be sure), but my dry mouth wouldn't let me. I was still, completely frozen, and horrified. My heart felt as if it were pummeling in my chest.

The wild animal's eyes- peculiar, as it was- seemed to give out a funny, subtle glow when it tilted it's big, furry head to where Eric was hovering.

Then, it made a funny noise. A low hostile growl; a rumbling harsh sound that clattered in the back of it's throat, frightening the life out of me. It sank into the grass on it's hind legs and, then... without warning, it sprang.

I screamed Eric's name. "Watch out, behind you!"

Like? Hate? I'm hoping Eric isn't too out of character lol. Thanks so much for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts, as always x