A/N: Howdy! I know! SE needs an update! Chapter 16 is half written, and I've hopefully exorcised my writing demons there (thank you, Ahjhg749 :P ), so soon? And Chapter 6 has been started. Life is kind of crazy and dumb right now, but I am doing my best. :P

Chapter 5

The room was completely silent until Long Shadow started screaming through the phone. "That's a lie. Who the fuck was that? I will fucking kill you, you bitch!"

Sookie had slid down the wall and was crouching, hugging her knees and pressing herself into the corner. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was murmuring something under her breath. She was barely moving her lips, but Eric was quite sure that it was, "I'm sorry," repeated again and again.

Eric hung up, opened a desk drawer, pulled out a stake, and left the room. Ginger followed him, pleading with him to stop. After an inner struggle, Pam left Sookie and chased after Eric, too.

Eric checked the storeroom and bathrooms and bar, while Pam grilled the waitresses. Eric was about to check the employee parking lot for Long Shadow's car when he felt Sookie's fear ratchet up even higher.

"Fuck."

He ran back to the office as fast as he could and threw open the door hard enough for the doorknob to punch through the drywall. Long Shadow was on top of her. His fangs were in her forearm, which she'd thrown up to protect her throat, and there was blood running down to her elbow. Eric plunged the stake into his back and through his heart.

Long Shadow's jaw slackened immediately, and her blood ran a little faster until the wound started to heal. Long Shadow seemed to crumple in on himself and then began to turn to ash. Sookie wasn't making any noise, but her eyes were huge and wild. Ginger was standing in the doorway in hysterics.

The waitress suddenly slumped to the floor, and Dr. Ludwig was standing behind her, holding a hypodermic needle. "Valium. Enough to knock out a horse. She'll wake up sometime tomorrow."

She walked around Ginger and over to Sookie and tutted at her. "Pick her up and put her on the couch, Vampire. I know I'm short, but I'm not that short."

Pam came in from the hallway with Belinda trailing along behind her. "I'll get her. She's still frightened of Eric."

Pam picked her up gently, and Sookie turned her head and stared at Pam. Almost through her. There was very little of Sookie left in her eyes. Just terror and emptiness.

Pam spoke softly as she laid Sookie on the couch. "He's gone, Sookie. He can't hurt you again. Eric staked him and he's nothing but a pile of ash on the floor." Sookie clung to her, and Pam had to pry Sookie's fingers from her shoulders. When she let them go, Sookie's hands hung in the air until Pam laid them at her sides.

Dr. Ludwig picked up Sookie's injured arm first. "It was a hell of a bite. Her arm is badly broken, but it will heal soon enough. She didn't lose much blood, at least. She's wound up like a spring, though. Everyone but Pam, out!"

Belinda was eager to leave, and Eric picked Ginger up from the floor and closed the door behind them.

"Let's do this quick before the shock wears off and she loses her shit. Take off that shirt and let me get a look at her."

Sookie lay there immobile, staring blankly at the ceiling, as the doctor poked and prodded, murmuring to herself. She inserted a needle and drew several vials of blood from Sookie's uninjured arm. Dr. Ludwig grunted in satisfaction and stepped back.

"You can dress her again. I suppose your maker would like to hear this, too. He seems very... invested." It didn't sound like she approved of that very much.

"Yes. He is. I'll see if Felicia is still out in the bar."

She was, and Felicia agreed to watch over Sookie while Pam and Dr. Ludwig sat down across from Eric in his booth. The rest of the bar was empty except for Ginger snoring on a bench seat nearby. Belinda had gone home. Eric looked murderous.

"How in the fuck did this happen?"

"Long Shadow was upset that Belinda didn't take the blame for the blood mix up. He was about to 'teach her a lesson' when you called. He went out the front door and must have looped around to the employee entrance and into your office."

The doctor cut in, "He crushed the bone, but fortunately didn't sever the arm. He couldn't have been on her for long."

Eric shook his head. "No. Seconds. No more than five."

The doctor nodded. "Her arm will be fine by tomorrow night. Sooner if you give her some of your blood. I'm going to run some tests on hers. See if I can find what makes her different and how her blood replenishes itself so quickly."

Eric put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. "Other than the arm, how is she?"

"If I had seen her for the first time tonight, I would have thought she was in terrible shape. But compared to two nights ago? It's remarkable. Despite the attack, her colour is better, her skin is tighter, and her body is healing and rehydrating. Physically, if this keeps up, she could be recovered in weeks, not months. Mentally? There isn't a goddamn thing I can do for a catatonic vampire."

Eric touched his fingertips together. "Why is she unresponsive?"

"She has a history of trauma. Sometimes, in times of great stress, it gets to be too much and the brain shuts down for a little while. She'll come out of this on her own in time, but as for the rest? She's got her work cut out for her. And so do you. I'll be back in a couple of days. In the meantime, keep doing what you're doing."

After the doctor left, Eric leaned back in his seat. "How did she know about Long Shadow?"

"You know, I have no idea. But she gave the strangest looks to Belinda and Ginger."

"What? Do you think she read their minds?"

Pam shrugged. "Why not?"

"I have never heard of a telepathic vampire."

"Well, neither have I, but what else could it be?"

He sighed. "I don't know. She could be a psychic, I suppose. But it's not like that is a common gift, either. You had better go in there. She is starting to come back to herself."

Pam hurried back into Eric's office, and Sookie was huddled in the corner of the couch, cradling her arm and crying silently.

Eric ducked in behind Pam and sat behind his desk. He took the letter opener from his drawer and sliced open his wrist and let it bleed into a highball glass. He had to open his wrist up again, but he filled the glass and handed it to Pam. It was a lot of blood, and their blood tie would be stronger, but they hadn't exchanged, so the effects would be quite temporary. And he still wouldn't be able to track her or do more than feel her emotions when she was nearby. He hoped that maybe it would help bring her to trust him.

Pam gave her the glass and persuaded her to drink. The more of it she drank, her fear and desperation settled heavier in his chest. When she'd finished, Pam got her to her feet and held Sookie's elbow as if she were an old woman and Pam was a good samaritan walking her across the street. She guided Sookie to the door. "Let's go back to Eric's. Don't worry. Eric will make sure Ludwig comes to us next time."

Pam shot Eric a triumphant look with more than a hint of a warning, and escorted Sookie out to the car.

Sookie was very quiet on the drive back. She got out of the car on her own and went straight down to the bedroom and climbed into bed. Pam noticed that she was still favouring her arm. Sookie curled up into a ball and closed her eyes.

Pam sat down on Sookie's side of the bed. She'd been debating the whole way home whether to bring it up tonight or wait until the following evening. Normally, she would have bided her time, especially given Sookie's mental state. But instinct was telling her to bring it up now.

"Sookie, how did you know about Long Shadow?"

Sookie stiffened but didn't respond.

"Did you read Ginger's and Belinda's minds?"

Sookie tensed even more before her shoulders slumped and she opened her eyes, looking at Pam pleadingly.

Pam said, "A couple of years ago, $60,000 went missing. Bruce, our accountant, eventually confessed. We got a new accountant, and everything seemed fine, although we thought all along that the bar should have been making more money. What did you hear?"

Her voice was very quiet, but surprisingly strong. "Belinda was pissed that Long Shadow made her look bad in front of you and Eric. She wished that she could tell you about the stealing, but she was too scared. She overheard them talking about it."

"And then when Ginger came in?"

"He was stupid the first time. He was just taking cash straight out of the bank deposits. After he made the first guy confess, he glamoured the next guy to cook the books. Ginger knew everything. He talks a lot after sex. Well, he did. She was glamoured not to say anything to anyone but him."

"But you could hear it anyway?"

Sookie shrugged her exposed shoulder. "Yeah. But even if she was glamoured not to remember, I would have still been able to hear it. I couldn't hear glamoured thoughts before I was turned. They were like a hole in the memory. But I can hear and see them fine now. They're just… hazy. Not hard to see, but they have an aura, I guess. My maker glamoured my mother a lot. I had a lot of practice." She sounded so defeated.

"You were a telepath before you were turned vampire?"

Sookie nodded.

"Can you read my thoughts?"

"No. Just people."

"Shifters?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know. I only knew of a couple. I couldn't really read them at all. Their thoughts were snarly, kind of. I had to ask my maker what they were. Why they were different. I haven't seen one since I was turned."

Pam thought for a couple of minutes. "So your maker knows that you're a telepath?"

"Yeah. He thought about renting me out to other vamps - to read minds, at least - but he didn't want anyone to find out about me. He wanted me all to himself. He's real possessive. He threatened to kill a kid I had a crush on in seventh grade. He did kill my great uncle, who got to me before he did. Humans were bad enough, but he couldn't stand the thought of another vampire having me. And he said that his maker would have just taken me for sure. Especially after she… tasted me." She swallowed.

"Even after you were turned?"

Sookie nodded. "Even more now, maybe. I still taste good, and he can take as much blood as he wants since I make so much. Especially after he gives me some of his. And, early on, it was the first time I'd ever been kind of… uh… receptive." She closed her eyes and shrank further into herself. She whispered, "I couldn't help it."

"I know, Sookie. We all went through it."

"I'm sorry."

Pam smiled, somewhat sardonically. "You have nothing to be sorry for. It was my pleasure. Eric made sure of it."

Sookie didn't respond. After a minute or two, when Pam was about to get up, Sookie said, "He was getting a pretty big cut of the sales. He's isn't going to be happy."

Pam patted her hip. She tried not to wince at how bony it was. "We'll keep you safe, Sookie."

Sookie knew better. She closed her eyes again. She was so very exhausted, and she didn't want to talk any more. Remembering hurt. And the worry and dread were back, stronger than ever. She was desperate for the emptiness and oblivion of her daytime rest. And, within seconds, she drifted away and escaped her demons. At least for a time.