Hello! I am back after so long. I am sorry this has taken me forever to write but life has just been that busy and I've lacked motivation to write and was unsure of where I was heading and how to get there. However I am slowly getting back into this and am forming a clearer picture of where and how I wish to go with this story.
I woke to the smell of bacon and fresh biscuits. Sookie was still at the other end of the couch a blanket shared between the two of us. I stretched a little before I scooched myself up. The morning light filled the living room it was warming she thought.
"Morning." I heard across from me to see Sookie sitting up as well. "How'd you sleep?"
"Alright. You?"
"Good." She answered before inhaling deeply through her nose. "Gran made her biscuits. Come on. You'll love them." She spoke throwing the blanket off us to the rocking chair across the room. She picked up some of the trash before leading me through the house to the kitchen. We found Gran at the stove, a spatula in one hand and the other on a skillet.
"Ah, good morning you two." Her Gran greeted us. "I was expecting you both to sleep the day away but hoped the smell of bacon would wake you." She turned back to the stove flipping the bacon. "I was right." She chuckled. "Now, sit its almost done."
We followed Gran's orders sitting at the small kitchen table that already had a pitcher of orange juice, glasses, and a butter dish waiting for us. It was not long before Gran had placed plates in front of us filled with eggs, bacon, and biscuits. "This looks delicious, thank you."
"It was no trouble dear. Especially after the night you had. Coming home to your house broken into. That doesn't happen much here." Gran took a set at the table. "Oh, that reminds me. Andy called. Said he has a few things to discuss with you and some paperwork to sign. I told him to come by after lunch. You needed your sleep."
I frowned remembering last night. I was thankful that nothing appeared to be missing just trashed for the most part. The only bright side was I was planning to replace most the furniture and my new furniture had yet to arrive.
After breakfast was done Sookie unfortunately had to go to work for a mid-shift. She apologized telling me she could call Sam and he would understand why she needed to miss work. I waved her off telling her that I would be fine to hang out with Gran for a bit until the Sheriff dropped by. After Sookie was gone Gran offered me a few towels saying that I was more than welcomed to shower, which I gladly accepted. When I was done showering, I joined Gran in the living room to find her knitting while rocking in her chair.
"Hello dear. Did you have a nice shower?" She asked eyes focused on her knitting.
"Yes. Thank you. I feel a lot better." I answered sitting down on the couch. "What are you making?" I asked.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe a scarf or a blanket. Depends on how much I pay attention." She smiled at me, eyes crinkling. "Feel free to turn the tv on dear. We can watch a little tv and then I will get lunch started. I was thinking some sandwiches. I'll even make one for Andy."
"Sounds good." I agreed as I reached for the tv remote and my phone. I found us some comedy to watch about a couple from the city raising their two kids on a farm.
I turned on my phone to find a few messages from Eric. Telling me that as soon as the 'Podunk Sheriff' is done getting forensics of my house there will be a cleaner coming by to fix it up. Shortly followed by someone to install a new door. And lastly, he'd be by just after dusk.
It was about an hour later when Sheriff Bellefleur knocked on the Stackhouse's door. I perked up as Adele got up from her knitting and answered the door. "Andy," She smiled. "That uniform suits you are dear."
"Thank you, Mrs. Stackhouse." I could see Andy's face redden slightly from her spot on the couch.
"Emilia is just in the living room." Gran stepped back to allow Andy in.
"Good afternoon, Miss Blanchard. I hope you slept well." Andy greeted. "I just uh have a few follow up questions to ask if it's not too much trouble." I gave him a small nod as she placed her phone down. "Alright then." Andy pulled a small notepad and pen out from his shirt. "You, Sookie, and Vampire Bill arrived at your home a little after 9 that correct?"
"Yes sir."
"And you didn't see or hear anything unusual on your way home and once you arrived."
I shook my head no. "Nothing I can think of."
"Do you know of anyone who could want to do this? Made any enemies since you got here? Or any old ones?"
"No, I haven't been in town that long and back in Virginia everything was normal. I didn't know my Aunt and Uncle but from what ive heard around town everyone liked them, so I don't think it's anything like that."
Andy sighed. "It looks like it maybe just a random act of breaking and entering. The forensic guys should be about done, It will uh take a couple of days for any results to come back they have to send the send the results to the next parish over to be processed." Andy moved from the living room to the front door. "I am sorry that this was part of your welcome to Bon Temps just know I'll have one of us drive by on our patrols just for peace of mind and all that."
"That's very sweet of you Andy." Adele smiled kindly at him.
"Just doing my job ma'am." He gave a curt nod.
"I'll be right back dear I have a sandwich for you." She was gone before he could protest. Gran returned shortly with a sandwich wrapped in a paper bag. "Here you go, Sheriff."
"Thank you, Mrs. Stackhouse I really appreciate it. I best be getting back to the station, make sure the paperwork is all in order and what not." He glanced down at his watch. "Ah they should be done with getting the evidence in like the next half hour. I'll follow up with you as soon as I have something Miss Blanchard. You two have a nice afternoon and stay safe, lock your doors and windows." Andy gave a quick wave before exiting the house.
It was still almost two when I decided to return home. "Are you sure you don't want to wait till Sookie gets home dear? I am sure she and Mr. Compton would help you clean up the mess."
"It's alright. Eric said he was sending someone over to take care of the cleaning. I'm just gonna go and see what I can salvage." I assured Adele as I walked down the steps to her house.
"Well, if you're sure dear. I'll be about if you need anything." She smiled and gave me a small wave, which I returned.
I walked down the dirt road to my home, a slight an uneasiness in the pit of my stomach. I was hoping the house wasn't as bad during the day as it seemed last night. I climbed the steps to my disheveled home; the door was shut the best it could be with having had been kicked in. I sighed as opened the door to be greeted with overturned furniture and broken glass all over the floor.
"This is just great." I grumbled walking into the small dining room, setting the chairs upright. I had just finished righting most of the furniture I heard a knock on my door. I cautiously approached the still slightly ajar door. "Hello?" I called out opening the door, finding three middle aged women dressed in paint splattered coveralls. All three women were the same height, one woman to the left was dark skinned with short curly hair, the middle woman had tanned skin with dark hair pulled into a loose bun, and the last woman was pale with a red pixie haircut.
"Hi ma'am. Miss. Blanchard?" Asked the red head. I gave a small nod. "We are Threes Bees Cleaning, I'm Kathy, this is Jane, and Ruth, we were hired by a Mr. Northman to come clean your home." She introduced herself and partners. While gesturing to the logo on her coveralls and the large van with a trailer attached sitting in my front yard. "From what Mr. Northman described it should only take about two maybe three hours to clear out all the damaged furniture and broken glass."
"Yeah, ok please come in." I stood to the side and let the three women in. "I think most of the damage is just on the first floor."
"That won't be a problem ma'am. We'll be sure to remove all the damaged furniture, and anything broken, unless you wish to try to salvage it just point it out and we'll place it somewhere safe."
They had worked with speed and efficiency to get all the broken glass and furniture up in just under two hours. There were only a few things that I had decided to save; a side table that was mostly scuffed and photographs from the picture frames that had been torn from the wall.
"Were there other areas that needed attention miss?" Asked the red head.
I glanced around the house taking mental stock of all the things that were destroyed. "No, that was everything. I really appreciate how quickly you were able to come and clean this up."
"It was no trouble at all Miss. We'll just be doing one more sweep through the rooms here to make sure we did not miss anything, then we will be out of your hair."
"Thank you."
They left shortly after our exchange, the house was now clean though missing quite a bit of furniture and knickknacks; the rooms seemed emptier now. I frowned, 'At least most of the photographs were salvaged.' I thought as I placed them in a folder until I could get replacement frames.
I was taking inventory of how much dish and glassware that I would need to replace when I heard a loud knock on my door. The still broken door. I glanced at time seeing it was almost five and there was still plenty of sunlight so it wouldn't be Eric.
I approached the door. "Hello?" I opened the door slightly. To find a tall man in a flannel shirt.
"Hello, ma'am. I'm Alcide Hervieux. Eric asked me to come by replace a door… I take it this is the door." He gestured to the broken frame between us before he showed me his ID.
"Yeah, that's the door." I said awkwardly.
Alcide inspected the door running his hands along the frame. "Doesn't look too bad, I'll have to replace this part of the frame and the door itself obviously. Should take too long to get done ma'am. Eric also mentioned a back door, I have replacement locks for those as well, so you'll only need one set." He explained.
"That's good."
"I'll just get the supplies from my truck, rip this out and get the new one in, in no time." He smiled before leaving the porch.
"I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." I called to him.
It was close to sunset when I decided to lay down on the couch with a book as I waited for Alcide to finish with the door and Eric to show. There was still about an hour left of sunlight, but I had already started to receive texts from the Viking asking if would come to Fangtasia for the evening, then returning to Eric's home for the night while he had the security system installed. I had agreed with a sigh, I was sure that there would not be a repeat break in but there seem to be no persuading the thousand-year-old vampire; I had seen the protective almost obsessive of Bill with Sookie on more than one occasion and I couldn't help but wonder if Eric was just being protective or was he being possessive.
A knock pulled me from my book and thoughts. I looked to see Alcide standing in the doorway wiping his hands on a rag. "I've finished the door ma'am; would you like to see?" Getting up I placed my book down and followed him to the door. "Here are the keys for the new locks; front and back. The deadbolt is four inches, helps provide better resistance if someone tries to kick the door in. The door is also steel as well exceptionally durable, I'll be back later to replace your backdoor per Northman's request." I glanced at the new door, it was a dark blue and there was a small window in the center of the door the was about three quarters of the way up.
"Thank you, it's a nice door, much better than other one even before it was kicked in." I fiddled with the keys in my hand. I held out my hand to shake his. "Thanks again, especially for coming out on such short notice."
"It was no problem, ma'am." His large hand engulfed mine.
Mid shake I was overwhelmed by a bombardment of images and sounds; I could hear howling ringing in my ear, trees rushing past me, growls, and the smell of dirt. And just as quickly as the visions came, they were gone.
"Well, I better get going." Alcide had pulled his hand away and hadn't even noticed I was practically frozen. "I should be back Friday." He said shutting the door.
I glanced down at my hand then out the window seeing Alcide drive away. "What the actual fuck?' I mumbled.
No Eric this chapter... but he will be in the next one. Thanks for reading. Please review and like. And I will try to better about updating... at least for a bit. I do promise to finish this story... it may take years and I may be on my death bed but I will finish.
-K.C Diehl