A/N Thrilled with the response the first chapter received! I didn't anticipate so much interest. Thanks everyone :)

Chapter 2

I sat with Hunter on his bed, gently stroking his forehead until he fell back asleep. He'd woken when we got home just long enough to use the bathroom and have a drink of water before settling in his own bed. I was actually glad he woke, it meant he wouldn't be shocked when he woke up in the morning to find himself back home.

I flopped onto the sofa when I got back to the sitting room, ignoring the hunky vampire reclining on the queen-sized mattress once again. I let out a huff of frustration.

"Would you like me to end him?" Eric asked. My eyes widened in surprise. He asked it so casually, I had to repeat the words in my head just to make sure he was saying what I thought he was saying.

"You're joking."

"He's the leader here, is he not? I kill Jessup and then we could ensure a more suitable replacement takes his position. Bec, perhaps?"

I dropped my head back against the couch and pressed a fist to my forehead where a headache was beginning to set in. "Urgh. Eric… No. That's not how it works in the real world."

He didn't respond. Probably because that was exactly how it worked in the real world of vampires.

"It doesn't matter who the leader is. I still won't be accepted," I explained finally.

"It's not you they don't accept, it's me." I heard movement and felt Eric's cool hands as he gently removed the shoes from my feet. I lifted my head off the couch and watched as he massaged my foot, his hands trailing up behind my calves.

"I don't know about that," I said quietly. "I have exclusive access into what they think of me. And anyway, if it is you, then they're being racist. Or species-ist, or whatever the hell the word is." He lifted me down onto the mattress and sat me so I was facing him.

"Pamela is leaving Atlanta," he said, his swift change of subject catching me off guard. Swift - like a guillotine landing on a chopping block.

"She is?" My chest constricted at the thought of saying goodbye to my dear friend. The feeling intensified with the next thought. "What about you…?"

"She's going to the west coast. There's talk of a large community there. Humans and vampires living side by side. Electricity all night. Apparently, they have a rudimentary form of the internet running again."

"A compound?" I asked, acutely aware he'd sidestepped my question. I studied his face carefully. The bitter tug at his lips, the determined rise of his brow. I felt something inside me start to crack.

"No," he said quietly. "Living like they did before the plague. As equals. No compound. Come with us."

"I can't," I said hoarsely, I slipped my hands out from under his.

"Why?"

"We're settled here. This is my home. Hunter's home."

"Is it?" He placed just enough emphasis on the words that tears sprung to my eyes.

"So that's it? You're going?"

"I won't settle there without you."

I nodded then, exhaling slowly, willing the tension away. He would allow his child to venture on without him in the new world so he could stay with me. And then what…? He would stay in a city he didn't like, so he could travel across state to visit me in a town where he wasn't welcome and would likely never be. Where was the long-term in that? I swallowed thickly.

How long had passed since he'd first shown up on my door step that rainy night? Six weeks, maybe seven? Our relationship was still fledgling. I couldn't possibly entertain the thought of doing this. I had a child to think about. Only a crazy woman would consider packing up and moving across the country with two vampires. We didn't even have a car. We didn't even know what was waiting for us at the end of the road. And it had only been six weeks!

I scooted away from him and laid down on the mattress with my back to him, pulling the covers over my shoulders. "I can't think about this right now."

"But you will." He got under the covers and spooned me from behind. I stiffened.

"What's that meant to mean?" I couldn't help the accusation in my voice.

"You will think about it."

"Oh." I relaxed against him. "Well, that, I guess I can promise."

There was a fairy at my door. And it wasn't my fairy godmother, nor was it a fairy there to collect a tooth from Hunter.

"Sookie."

"Claude." I blinked at him. I wasn't expecting company. I was tired from my late night with Eric, sore in all the right places, and so planning on taking it easy with Hunter for the day. I had a lot to think about.

"Well, are you going to let me in?" he huffed.

"If you tell me why you're here." I leaned against the door jamb and held the door partially closed with one hand.

Claude looked incredible as usual, his long dark hair brushed back off his face, his eyes piercing. He was dressed impeccably in a crisp white linen button up and (extremely) well-fitting sandstone colored chinos. He looked like the dashing leading man from one of those old romance novels I used to read, except with the disposition of a narcissistic ass who thought he was God's gift to green earth.

He lifted the package in his arms. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied neatly with string. I perked up a little.

"Uncle sent me with something for you. If you want me to install it so you can do the horizontal hula with the walking dead and not disturb your son, then you will let me in."

"Fine," I bristled, stepping back to hold the door open for him. God, he was an unredeeming ass. Hunter came barreling in at full speed from the back garden and Claude set the package down on the kitchen table, lifting my boy up into a bear hug.

"Here's my favorite cousin," Claude crooned before setting him down. I stood by smiling. Okay, maybe not a complete ass.

"Claude! Come play with me. I have my trucks in the sandpit!" Hunter jumped up and down, depositing a fine dusting of sand from his clothing onto the floor around him.

"Where's your hat, Hunter?" I asked.

Outside, Momma, Hunter answered automatically without even breaking his gaze from Claude.

Make sure you put it on when you go back out, hon.

"I'll be free to play in a minute, little cousin," said Claude. "But first, your mother and I have something here to put up in your room to help you sleep."

But Hunter, using all his tricks (i.e., puppy eyes, whining 'please' on repeat, pouty bottom lip) managed to con Claude out to the sandpit first, so I made myself useful by fixing a platter for morning tea. Goats' cheese using milk from our very own goat in the back yard, sliced rye, carrot sticks, dried apricots, and prunes. I called the boys back in and we sat together at the kitchen table, Hunter pulling his chair close to Claude.

Between mouthfuls of food, Hunter began busily informing Claude about the new beehive we'd set up in the garden. It was actually a few months old, but the news was still fantastic and fresh for a four-year-old, who now got to enjoy honey sandwiches as a treat on occasion.

Claude was like an utterly different person around Hunter, he became warm and kind. Seeing the way he interacted with Hunter always left me feeling thrown, since it pretty much seemed the only way he was ever capable of behaving was snotty and aloof. At least where I was concerned.

"May I?" I asked, interrupting the conversation when Hunter paused to inhale a fistful of dried fruit.

Claude pushed the package my way and I carefully unwrapped it. Under the brown paper was another layer of fine tissue paper and under that, an ornate silver framed mirror about the size of a dinner plate.

"A mirror?" I lifted it. My face smiled back. A little tired, but there was a wispy quality to my smile. I wasn't sure if that was the mirror's effect or my vampire lover's.

"I'll hang it above the door inside his room if there's space. Otherwise, over his bed will work. Above the door is best, it was designed for doorways. The magical effect will be more effusive from that position; it will encompass the room entirely."

"I don't like it," Hunter said, standing up on his seat to lean over the table to examine the mirror. "I don't want a mirror."

"Back on your bottom, please. You'll hardly notice a mirror above your door, honey." I shifted the mirror across the table for him to see so that he wouldn't need to stand on his seat.

I would've killed for something like this as a child. An object that created a safe space to retreat into when I lived with Mom, Dad, and Jason. Being able to shut a door and block out the thoughts of others sounded incredible.

Hunter shook his head and sat down. "Mommy wants it, not me."

I narrowed my eyes at him. He was picking thoughts from my head.

Mommy wants it for you, I thought at him.

"You'll be able to relax," said Claude. "You won't hear anything in your head when you're in there. Your dreams will be even sweeter."

After morning tea, I showed Claude the toolbox and left him to Hunter's room so he could properly install the mirror. He didn't ask for my help, so I didn't offer it. He probably needed to do some weird fairy ritual to get it working, anyway.

Hunter and I wandered down to the back, feeding the scraps from morning tea to the goat and then I perched on the edge of the wooden sandpit, helping Hunter dig tracks in the sand for his matchbox cars to race along. Hunter was in his element, racing the cars while supplying the sound effects for them. I gave up trying to stay sand-free and ended up climbing in too.

"Where's Claude, Momma?"

"Oh." He was taking his time. "Has he popped back home?" I lifted my head to listen with both senses. I found him inside but no longer in Hunter's room.

Hang on a minute, I'll be right back, I told Hunter.

The only response I got from Hunter was the sound of an engine revving. I brushed off my shorts and feet before walking in through the opened french doors. I could feel Claude moving somewhere deeper within the house, maybe in my room. I walked down the hallway and Claude popped right in front of me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"All done," he said, smirking in reply. I leveled a suspicious look at him. What was it with supes and not answering direct questions?

"Hunter's waiting for you," I said coolly. Claude sauntered past me down the hall and back towards outside while I trailed into Hunter's room to check the mirror.

I drew a sudden breath as soon as I entered. It was completely silent. Well, not completely - I could still hear the birds outside, the soft chatter of Hunter talking to Claude at the sandpit, and the distant sound of wood chopping from somewhere closer to town. But mentally, my feelers stretched as far as the walls of Hunter's room and then stopped. An invisible barrier was preventing my mind from escaping the confines of the room. It was … bizarre. And fantastic.

I stepped out into the hallway and called Hunter's attention with my mind. Can you hear what I'm singing? I asked. I stepped back into his room and began singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in my head. I stepped back into the hallway after one verse.

So? I asked.

Mommy, you sang Twinkly Twinkly Star.

Okay. Now you try to sing something.

I stepped back over the threshold into the mental silence of his bedroom. I waited ten seconds and stepped into the hall again. The second I stepped back out into the hall, I caught the tail end of him singing Happy Birthday. It worked! I smiled to myself happily. I would hear him mentally if I needed to. But while he was in the room, he wouldn't be able to hear me - unless I physically called out to him.

I moved to join them outside but did a double take as I passed by my bedroom.

Something was different.

I stepped inside slowly. My bed was still made, the white coverlet neat, the throw pillows as I'd left them. But there was now a slight depression on the quilt cover beside the night stand that hadn't been there before. Like someone had been sitting down. The top drawer of my night stand wasn't completely closed either.

I opened the drawer and looked inside. My things had been rifled with. Nothing had been taken from what I could tell. I crossed the room to my sit down at my vanity dressing table. I opened every drawer. Things had been moved, my jewelry box had been rummaged through. I got back up and checked my chest of drawers and the hanging space in the closet. All the same. Things slightly adjusted, slightly different to how I'd left them. I exhaled angrily through my nose. Fucking, intrusive fucking fairies.

I snapped at Claude as soon I got outside. "Did you go through my things?"

"Claudine asked me to see if you had a dress watch. She wanted to get you one for your birthday next month," he answered smoothly, not looking up from where he was sitting in the sand with Hunter. The words came out far too easily. Too practiced. Too practiced for my liking.

I crossed my arms and he looked at me with an expression that could melt the panties off a thousand women. Too bad he didn't swing that way. And that he was a snoop.

"Hunter, say goodbye to Claude. He has to go now."

"Awww…"

Claude smirked as he brushed past me on his way out. "Until next time, cousin!" he waved, popping away mid-stride down the garden path.

Hunter and I washed the sand from our hands in the bathroom and I set him up with some blocks in the lounge room. I grabbed the hammer Claude had used to hang the mirror and walked into the spare bedroom. I checked with my mind for anyone, fairies or otherwise, in the vicinity and shut the curtains over the bedroom windows. I needed privacy.

I heaved and shifted the dresser that sat in the corner and peeled up the corner of carpet underneath so it revealed the timber flooring. I sat down cross legged and pulled up at the nails on the second floorboard from the corner. They hadn't been nailed down completely flush with the boards, so it only took a handful of tugs to get them out. I lifted the floorboard out and retrieved the small plastic tupperware container hidden underneath. Inside the container was a crushed midnight blue velvet bag. I opened it and tipped the contents into my hand.

The cluviel dor slipped out into the palm of my hand, warm and welcoming. I closed my fist around the object.

Claude hadn't found it.