A/N: Howdy! Writing is going better! I am almost done chapter 28 of BSC. And then maybe three more? Possibly two. Might even be four. Who knows what those crazy kids will get up to? Also, what's an outline? Also about half done SE 28. I know. What else is new? But I have added a paragraph or two, so progress. Still another little ways to go there, but I do have a couple of future chapters mostly written already. So that's handy.

Chapter 13

Sookie sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and some dry toast, looking down at the note Randy Burgess had left on her front door. She'd solved the mystery of the regraveled driveway. It had been Eric — or so she assumed. She didn't know anyone else with the name Northman. Apparently, her parting gift had been a priority driveway restoration, complete with landscaping timbers and top-of-the-line interlocking gravel. She didn't even know what to think about that. Was it some kind of secret message? Was he making fun of her? How much had it cost? She didn't even want to think about it. That much money could have paid a lot of bills. And every time she drove on the damn thing, she was going to think of him. And thinking about him hurt.

Then again, just about everything in her house made her think about him. He'd only been there for three weeks, but she had already been starting to think of it as their house, and him as the head of it. Well, co-head.

She jumped a little when the phone rang. She couldn't think of one person who she wanted to talk to, so she decided not to answer.

It rang four times before the machine picked up. She tried to ignore the sound of her own voice asking the caller to please leave a message after the beep.

"Hey Sookie. This is Holly. I'm really sorry about what happened last night. Arlene feels just awful about it. Listen, Andy cut your final cheque and he just left to go visit his grandmother for a late lunch and then to the bank and post office. I thought that you might want to swing by while he wasn't around to pick it up. I have the tips from your tables last night, too. Anyways, see you later."

Sookie sighed and looked down at her toast. She'd managed to choke down one bite. Her coffee was lukewarm. She dumped it down the sink, threw the toast away, and got dressed. She couldn't even look at herself in the mirror while she brushed her teeth.

The parking lot at the bar was mostly empty after the lunch rush. She was glad because the employee entrance was locked and she had to go in the front door.

Charlsie Tooten was waiting on a table full of Gran's old Descendants of the Glorious Dead friends and Sookie waved at them and said hi. They usually came once or twice a week for lunch.

Holly was behind the bar, pouring a pitcher of Bud Lite for some construction workers at a table in the corner. Sookie sat down on a bar stool in front of her.

"I'll be right with you, Sookie."

Sookie put her chin in her palm and propped herself up on her elbow. Holly took the pitcher to the table and flirted with the men a bit before going back behind the bar. She poured a Coke and slid it over to Sookie and placed an envelope beside it.

"Andy is such an asshole. He's been so mean to you for no reason at all, ever since the bar changed hands. He deserved a cold wet crotch. I made sure he didn't dock your pay, too. He was going to charge you for the pitcher of beer and 'dry cleaning' for his wash and wear Walmart khakis."

Sookie smiled a little. "Thanks, Holly."

Holly leaned forward. "So, what was the final straw, anyway?"

She was desperate for gossip. Everyone wanted to know what Andy had done to finally send Sookie over the edge. She was glad to have something to bargain with, really. She wanted some information, too.

"You know that Jason was here last night?"

Holly nodded. "I heard. I also heard that he was a real jerk."

Sookie rolled her eyes. "What else is new? Anyway, I was pouring Jason a pitcher and Andy said something that I won't repeat. It was about Jason and me, and it was nasty."

She left out his disgusting thoughts, of course. Holly grimaced.

"Omigod, what a pig! I hope I can find another job soon. I've got to start looking. This used to be a great place to work. I miss Sam."

Sookie smiled sadly. "Me, too."

She really did. Maybe, if she'd tried harder, she could have made it work with Sam. Maybe she could have been happy. Not like she'd been with Eric, but… comfortable.

Would she give up knowing what it had felt like to be with Eric if it had spared her the pain of losing him? Yes. Absolutely. Especially with her world falling down around her ears. If she could go back in time, right this second, and try just a little bit harder with Sam, she would. It wasn't even a question.

But she didn't love Sam. Not like that. And definitely not like Eric.

She looked into her glass and poked her ice cubes with her straw a few times while Holly went and checked on her table. The after work crowd would be arriving soon and Sookie needed to broach the subject of the witches before the place started filling up with a bunch of people with great big ears.

Charlsie went out back for a smoke break with Tack after her table of Descendants paid their bills and left. Holly took a seat on the stool behind the bar where Andy always sat. She was surprised that Sookie was sticking around; she'd been so quiet ever since everything had happened the year before.

"You ok, Sookie? Did you want to talk about something?"

Sookie knew that this was going to be touchy; anyone in Bon Temps who didn't at least profess to be some sort of Christian was met with distrust, disbelief, and sometimes even utter disgust.

Sookie took a deep breath and blew it out. "You're Wiccan, right?" She kept her voice low, but Holly still looked around, afraid that someone might have overheard. Other than the table in the corner, though, the bar was empty, and they were talking and laughing far too loud to hear.

"Yeah. So?"

Holly sounded so defensive. Sookie tried to defuse the conversation, even though she was just going to have to turn around and light it again. She lifted her hands up with her palms out.

"Hey, I don't judge." After all, she was almost positive that the man she loved wasn't a Christian, either. "I just had a couple of questions, is all."

Holly's hackles went down a little, but she was still wary. Guarded. "What do you want to know?"

"The poster that Andy made such a fuss over a few weeks back. Did that have something to do with witches?"

Holly had been expecting questions about spells or curses or if she worshipped the devil, but not this. She was scared for a moment, but then she relaxed a bit. That threat was gone, at least. She grabbed a rag and started cleaning up a bit behind the bar. She figured a non-answer was best.

"It's all good. A friend of a friend was missing, but he's been found."

Sookie knew that she had to push back. "Hallow and her brother were your friends?"

Holly's head shot up, her eyes wide. The fear was back.

"What do you know about that?"

Sookie shrugged. "Not enough. Just that there were bad witches who were here and caused a lot of problems for a lot of people. There was a big fight and they lost and now they're dead. But I need to know the rest."

Holly sighed. Part of her wanted to talk, just to get it off of her chest.

"They were awful people. Just awful. They threatened to hurt my son if I didn't help them. To curse him so that he would hurt himself and I wouldn't be able to stop him. They forced other members of my coven to help, too, and three of them died in the battle. They were Wiccans, like me. None of us wanted anything to do with black magic."

Holly took a shaky breath, but she managed to keep from tearing up.

"I put up their posters and ran their errands and did what I was told. I was a look-out at their building for a couple of weeks. It's been so cold and it was so boring that I've been sitting in my car, reading. The night before last, I saw a group go by, and then another. They were on a cross street on the next block, almost to the building where Marnie and the others were. I'm sure they didn't see me. I knew something was going to happen, so I waited a few minutes and just went home. I was terrified."

She paused for a moment and then her eyes flashed in anger. "I'm glad they're dead. It's finally over and my son is safe."

They both just sat for a minute or two and the silence seemed to stretch between them. But Sookie was running out of time.

"What did the poster say?"

Holly shrugged. "It really was a wanted poster. Have You Seen This Man in big block letters with a phone number and a picture of a blond hunk on it. A vampire. And there was a fifty thousand dollar reward. His name was Eric something."

Fifty thousand dollars… Of course, she wouldn't have turned Eric in to those monsters for fifty million, but that didn't change the fact that she was flat broke and jobless and that much money would have changed her life.

Not that the past three weeks hadn't.

"Northman. His last name is Northman."

It was barely a whisper. Holly looked sharply at Sookie right when the new bell over the door jingled and Sookie turned her head to see who had come in. Her hair swung away from her neck for a moment and the bite mark on that side was stark and fresh — only a few hours old.

"Sookie, what have you gotten yourself into?"

Holly was staring at her neck, frankly shocked that perpetual virgin, Sookie Stackhouse, was apparently a fangbanger.

Sookie covered the bite with her hand, even though her hair had swung back into place. Of course, this new Eric hadn't healed the wounds that showed like hers had. And she hadn't noticed. Shit.

"Nothing. Everything is just fine. Honest. I really gotta go, Holly. Thanks for everything."

She tried to pay for the Coke but Holly wouldn't let her. Sookie stuck the envelope in her purse and left quickly. She had to dodge the Norcross workers pouring in the door on her way out.

She couldn't help but admire the smooth drive down her driveway, but somehow the lack of potholes — and how much she enjoyed their loss — was just making her angrier and more sad. She went inside and dropped her purse on the island and checked her Word of the Day calendar to see what today's was. Rapscallion. She was afraid that it was an omen of things to come, even though she'd vowed to never see him again.

She essentially fell onto the couch face first and lay there for several minutes, drained. Finally, she sat up and turned on the TV. There wasn't much on, but she sat there and made herself watch it, anyway. It didn't matter; she couldn't even remember what had been on five minutes after it rolled over to the next show.

She wandered into the kitchen for a glass of water to wash down some Tylenol a while later and noticed the envelope sticking out of her purse. She went ahead and opened it and smiled at the greeting card inside. It had a black cat on the cover that looked like Tina, who'd run away in the midst of Gran's funeral preparations. It gave her a pang.

The card had been signed by last night's waitresses, Arlene and DeeAnne, plus Holly and Charlsie, and several customers, too. Hoyt had even scrawled his name, although she noticed that Jason hadn't.

Her final cheque for a few measly dollars was inside, along with a big stack of bills and a small handful of change. Far more than she could have possibly made the night before. She counted it, and it was well over three hundred dollars. Someone had passed the hat. She wondered if Andy had objected.

She started to cry at their generosity. When the sun went down a little while later, she cried even harder.

…

Miles away in Shreveport, lying in his bed in the dark, Eric closed his eyes and immersed himself in her pain. He relished it, knowing that she was longing for him. Knowing that she had a weakness that he could exploit. He even convinced himself that all of the longing and pain was hers and that he wasn't confused at all.