For two hours Adele grilled the civil war vet. Both Godric and Jason would admit the man knew how to tell a story. The conversation moved on to the present time. "Are you here because of the new laws passed?" Adele asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Compton smiled. "My last descendant passed not long ago, and I thought I'd move back to the home I built with these two hands."
"Oh, how wonderful." One would think Adele had forgotten this vampire was there to take away her granddaughter.
"Yes, it is," Compton said still smiling. He was happy to keep answering questions as it kept him there. He had yet to see the girl, but she was there that he was sure of because Godric was there as well. Compton had so many questions about the nature of their relationship. He could smell the girl all over Godric and by god he worked to keep his fangs in his gums.
"Where is Sookie? She can't still be sleeping." Adele groaned.
"No, I'm wide awake. Sunday is my day of rest, and I am making the most of it. Even God rested on Sunday." She moaned planting herself on Godric's lap.
"Sookie, this is Bill Compton, our new neighbor."
"Right... well welcome... I suppose." Her lack of interest was genuine.
"Thank you; it is good to be back." He said to her although her attention was solely focused on Godric. He could now smell the vampire's blood in her. This truly complicated matters.
Jason's phone rang then. Detective Stackhouse..." The greeting threw Bill. This was another piece of information that was wrong. Hadley's description of her male cousin was one of a layabout that couldn't string two sentences together. Jason Stackhouse was far from that, he was a detective and from what he was hearing, a homicide detective at that.
"Do you have to go in?" Adele asked.
"Nah, can I have some more pie." Adele scooped a large helping onto his plate. "I had the tech guys running some tests for me, and the results came in."
"And I'm guessing the results didn't come as a surprise." Godric chuckled.
"Nope, I knew what they were going to find, but my word alone ain't gonna cut it with the DA or the courts. So I let them waste money providing hard evidence. I already have my man, and tomorrow with the hard evidence in front of him he will sing like a canary. They always do." He said with a shrug. "One hundred percent record still intact." With his ability, he could always get you to tell the truth. He'd had cases where the evidence was so stuck against someone he knew was innocent and had had to fight to clear them. Of course, these days, when he believed someone was innocent the department backed him so it made his job easier. With his record why wouldn't they?
"Indeed," Godric said with a laugh.
"Well, it is well past my bedtime. Mr. Compton, thank you for indulging an old lady." She said before making her way up the stairs. With the only person making him feel welcome had gone to bed, Bill knew it was time to bid them goodbye that was until Jason piped up.
"When are you two gonna have a little shindig to celebrate your bond and let everyone know? I doubt anyone at the bar has picked it up."
"I do believe we should do something; I have a few old friends who would be very surprised by this."
"Yes, the eternal bachelor has been tied down." Sookie teased.
"And he couldn't be happier." He planted a rather indecent kiss on Sookie.
"Eating here." Jason glared at the pair.
"This is nothing compared to the shit I've heard coming from your room in this house." She stuck her tongue out at him as he still glared at her. He really didn't want Thalia hearing that.
"Well, I believe it's time for me to head home." Bill stood to leave.
"Goodnight Mr. Compton," Sookie said her gaze barely on him.
"Please call me Bill." Sookie gave a noncommittal grunt.
Bill vamped back to his house shutting the door with a growl. He made his way up to the attic and underneath one of the floorboards grabbed a prepaid cellphone. He dialed a number, and after two rings it was answered with a generic greeting. "It's Compton, put me through to the queen."
"Please hold." Bill sighed, a very human thing to do. He really did not feel good about this and was hoping after his report the queen would order him back to court.
"Bill, I didn't expect to hear from you so soon." Sophie-Anne cheered.
"I do not believe the Stackhouse girl is a telepath." He started. He couldn't outright lie just in case it came back to bite him the ass.
"Oh." The queen sounded disappointed.
"Yes, I believe she has a little trick of knowing what her customers want, but I also believe it's simply because she has near perfect recall." He was bullshitting, but anything to get back to court. He had no idea how Sookie did what she did.
"Couldn't that be her hiding her telepathy?" She countered.
"Yes, but considering she is a bartender at the sheriff's bar and has been for two years..."
"I'm sorry... what?" She bellowed.
"Yes, Hadley was wrong, her cousin does not work at Merlotte's. She is a bartender at Fangtasia and has been for two years. If she were a telepath, the sheriff would know that by now."
"When you say she knows what her customers want... what do you mean?"
"She doesn't ask them what they want..."
"You mean to tell me she serves them without asking and yet gets it right every time." Sophie- Anne was beginning to sound elated.
"That is what I observed while I was at the bar." If Bill could knock himself out, he would have done it. He just had the perfect opportunity to put the queen off but had just done the opposite.
"Then I expect you to confirm whether her talents are that of a telepath or just a trick to amuse her customers."
"That is all well and good, but unfortunately even if she is a telepath. I don't believe I could get her to come to court."
"Bill is she ugly." The queen cackled.
"No, far from it, but she is bonded to a vampire." That news shut the queen up. "Your majesty," Bill called wondering if she had hanged up.
"I will send someone to deal with the vampire when the time is right." Sophie- Anne said flippantly.
"Her bonded is Godric of Gaul." Again the line got very quiet.
After a while, she spoke again. "Are you certain?"
"Yes, I spent the evening in their home. He was there, and they also talked about having a ceremony to make it public knowledge. Not only that, her brother is a homicide detective with the Shreveport police department and an excellent one at that. If she goes missing, the entire law enforcement of this state would be searching for her. That is if we can even get her away from her bonded. It would also appear that my very sight annoys both her and her brother. Her grandmother made me feel welcome, but the siblings... can't say how the Gaul feels about my presence." Bill sighed, something he found himself doing too much of lately. "Your majesty... this is a lost cause," Bill begged.
"Find out if the girl is truly a telepath and then we can decide from there." He wanted to smash something. "And Bill, make it quick... it would be ideal if I could have this information before the bonding is made public." That was not what he wanted to hear, nor did Godric, who was listening to the conversation perched on Bill's roof.
For the first time in a long time, Sookie worked the night shift without Godric or Jason there. She consoled herself with the fact that she had Thalia watching her back. Despite Eric's interest and Yvetta's hostility, she'd never felt the need to have someone watch her back until Compton showed up. Again, he sat there for the better part of two hours and did nothing but stare at her. He finally made his way over to the bar, this time she'd be forced to serve him.
"Hello, Sookie." He greeted with a smile.
"What can I get you?" She asked without thought, but soon realized what she had done when both Pam and Alfonse barked out laughs. Both Thalia and Eric smirked, and there were a few snickers from some the patrons. Of course, she had forgotten she asked you for your drink when she didn't like you. In truth, she hadn't asked anyone in a long while and forgot what it meant to ask.
Bill had no idea what her asking meant, he looked around perplexed especially at Pam who was still sniggering. "True blood." Without a word, Sookie grabbed one heated it up and handed it over to him before moving away.
"So what did you do to piss her off?" Alfonse asked with a smirk.
"Nothing... not that I know off," Bill responded still perplexed.
"She only asks when she really doesn't like you. And worse, as a vampire, you can only drink one thing and she still asked. She really must not like you at all." Finally, Bill understood the reactions around him.
"It must be the fact that he does nothing but stared at her as though she were his next meal." Pam snarked.
"I would have to agree. Your staring is rather disconcerting and makes the young lady uncomfortable." Thalia added.
"Dude, it is really creepy the way you stare. Yeah, she's beautiful, but she's also with that vampire no one fucks with. You know the one that was friends with Jesus, and then there is her brother." A human Bill didn't know added. Eric rolled his eyes at the Jesus comment. It appears that was all Godric as now known for as far as the humans were concerned.
"Didn't realize I was staring enough to creep her out." He muttered even though he knew it was a bald-faced lie.
"Really, because it ain't aimed at me and even I'm creeped out," Brenda added with a shiver. Bill knew he had just made his task even more difficult as this conversation was sure to get back to Godric.
Sookie smiled to herself as she went for her break. Without Godric around, she went to the locker room and grabbed a sandwich and a book out of her locker. The door to the locker room opened, and Pam wandered in. "I really do not like Compton's interest in you." She said without preamble.
"I don't either, anyone that sits there two nights in a row and does nothing but stare..." she left the sentence hanging. Pam knew Compton was the queen's procurer and wondered if his interest in Sookie had anything to do with the fact that she wasn't mortal. She had confronted Eric after her talk with Sookie, and he had admitted that Sookie had revealed the fact that she wasn't mortal and therefore Godric didn't need to change her. The revelation had left Pam reeling. The two had spent hours theorizing what Sookie and her brother could possibly be. Worse, the two couldn't be glamoured into revealing that information.
"Anyway, I doubt we will see him here anytime soon." Sookie knew Compton would be back on her next shift. He had a job to do and time was of the essence. She prayed Godric's trip to New Orleans would yield some information about how the queen knew of her gift, and what her plans were for Sookie. "Don't you usually go to your car for your break?" Pam asked.
"Yes, but I found my spot taken when I got here tonight, so I parked out front." Yvetta had parked in her space. Since Sookie had worked for the club since it's early days, she was lucky enough to have an employee parking spot. Since there were so few, the later employees parked out with the patrons. She let it go and put it down to the fact that she usually flew in with Godric, so Yvetta thought the space would be empty, but deep down Sookie knew better.
When Sookie came back out Compton was long gone and she sighed in relief. The rest of the night went without a hitch. She said her goodbyes to the others and made her way to the car.
Godric's trip had been fruitful, and he was feeling somewhat relaxed as he was almost home when the pain hit. He concentrated on his bonds and found it wasn't Eric, but Sookie. For the first time in three millennia, he felt something akin to panic. The bond told him Sookie was still at the bar, and he made his way there flying faster than he had ever managed. He landed next to Sookie's car and seeing the blood rushed to the bar and into Eric's office to find his progeny giving Sookie his blood.