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Chapter 30: Old Friends

Headache - one of the worst ones I had ever had.

"I didn't think she slammed her head that hard," Sookie was murmuring, her petite frame surprisingly sturdy beneath my arm as we stuttered through the entryway of Bill's house. My stomach gave an uncomfortable rumble, something half-hunger and half-agony.

I groaned, dried blood cracking along my cheek as Sookie hauled me over to a chair in the living room and settled me down. Outside the windows, the sky had darkened to a light ebony, the fields beyond giving a whisper as the swampy air rolled from the bayou. In Bon Temp, it was never cold but tonight felt different. Tonight it felt like hell just might have frozen over.

"Just a headache," I gritted out, pressing a heel to my pounding skull. God, it felt like someone had tried to crack it open.

Sookie's hands skittered across my hair, light as a fairy. "It's probably these braids that you keep putting in."

Her fingers worked to undo them, massaging along my scalp as she went. A low creak drew my eyes to where Bill was pushing his way from his casket, looking around with the wariness of someone who had gone to sleep in relative tranquility and woken up to a burning house. His eyes immediately zeroed onto Jason who was currently on his fifth call to the police station.

"Wanna let ya'll know a couple of folks got hit by a car up on the square." He strode into the living room, created an agitated path past where Sookie and I sat on the chair and around. "But they - they ran off."

Sookie's head snapped up. "Ask them what the heck's goin' on all over town."

Her hands coasted through my dark curls one more time before she was squeezing my shoulder and moving away from me to where Bill stood. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the braids definitely weren't the issue. My eyes drifted to the window, the sway of the trees just beyond the wide-open planes of Bill's land. My stomach twisted once more. I had a sinking suspicion why it felt like I had just been sucker-punched in the gut a dozen times.

And it might have had to do with the fact that, outside of this room, I couldn't feel a single ounce of fear in the whole city.

"Oh and if someone could call me back and tell me if we've been attacked by terrorists or-" A low beep cut him off, Jason's fingers going white as he yanked the phone away from his ear. Seething, he waved it around. "Fucking answering machine at the sheriff's office."

"I don't think that the sheriffs are operating in Bon Temps anymore," I croaked, pressing my fingers into my lids. Body aches and a migraine - that's all this was. My teeth throbbed, making a lovely chorus in my skull. I could deal with-

My head snapped up as a sharp creak along with the clodding of boots burst across the floorboards above my head followed by the nasal drip of Maxine Fortenberry's voice. "Well if it ain't the vamp-er and his vamp-er lover."

Stomach cramping, I forced myself up and over to where the others stood in the entryway, Jason's hands catching me as I stumbled into his side. His eyes were firmly on the portly figure of Miss Fortenberry, her red and pink matching vacation outfit.

Jason's arm wrapped under my own, hoisting me into his side with very little gentleness. "Oh-ho-ho, there's those fucking eyes again."

Maxime's cackle burst around the room, her toothy grin going even wider beneath the ink-stained cast of her eyes. Footsteps sounded from the room that the older woman had just exited and her eyes darted there quickly before she was waddling to the staircase.

"MOTHER, GET BACK HERE!" Hoyt's voice boomed and then Jessica's scarlet hair bounced out into the glow of the foyer followed closely by the brunette boy.

Pleading eyes jumped from where the woman was trying to manhandle her way past her son, pushing him down a step or two as he swore viciously up at her, to Bill. "Oh thank god you're home. She's gone like totally batshit!"

Bill's gaze was a shade away from terrifying, his sideburns making him look more 18th century than any respectable ghoul would ever go for. I mean, come on. Even Eric had cut his hair off and he was a fucking Viking. "What the devil-?"

"I had nothing to do with it, I swear!" Jessica exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

Miss Fortenberry pushed Hoyt down another step, pudgy, little hands shove at him with an insistence that was slightly impressive. The brunette boy's eyes shifted uneasily from us to his mother as he tried to bodily stop her from going another step, grunting beneath the massive weight difference. I didn't particularly feel the urge to help him and from the general lack of movement from the others, I assumed that was the mindset from everyone. "At first I thought it was just a bad reaction from her new diet pills-"

"Yeah, those usually cause alien eyes and slavering hysterics," I muttered sardonically rolling my eyes as Jason gave me an appreciative snort.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Maxine howled, giving another vicious shove that sent Hoyt into the wall of the landing with a grunt.

Doggedly, he followed after her. "But then we saw the whole town had these eyes."

My stomach sank, my mind jumping to- No. It couldn't… My eyes clashed with Sookie's, her throat bobbing on a swallow.

"How long has she been like this?" Bill cut in, her accent going a degree above social genteel and straying precariously into master of the house territory.

"Since last night," Jessica supplied, shadowing the pair of struggling family members down the stairs.

The woman of the hour finally straightened, stopping her endless push against her son to look down on us like a starlet about to descend onto set in a 4 million dollar gown. "And I will be, for as long as it takes for him to get his offering."

"That sounds fucking-" Jason and I said at once. "Fucked-up."

His eyes zipped to me. "You owe me a soda."

"She's been on about Sam Merlotte and how they're gonna offer him to God," Hoyt grunted, finally giving up the battle against the blonde and letting her hobble her way down the remaining stairs, her face pulled into a grotesque sneer.

I wasn't real good at theories. I'd say that as far as the smarts went, they all went to Sookie. Even though I was only adopted into their family, I felt like all of my brain cells had been shelled out to her at birth, bringing me down into the ranks of idiot.

But even I could put two and two together. Manaeds were spiritual creatures serving under Dionysus. I didn't know what crazy looked like but if I were to guess I'd say that Maxine Fortenberry was looking mighty close. Especially as her eyes strapped onto Jason and stayed there, her tongue going out to lick at her pink cake of lipstick.

"Why don't you offer yourself up to me, Jason Stackhouse?"

Jason's eyes went wide, her arm loosening on me as his head snapped to the side. "Huh?"

I gagged as Maxine stalked a bit closer. "You dirty little monkey."

I would have laughed if I wasn't screaming, Maxine's claws grasping out in a wild grab for not only Jason but me as well. We both went stumbling backwards, narrowly avoiding the groping as Hoyt and Bill leapt forward tearing her away.

Black eyes filled my vision, Maxine's gaze latching onto me. Saliva dribbled from the side of her lips, her body going rigid as she stared at me. Slowly, coffee-stained teeth flashed, a crooked smile curving eerily across her face.

"Does she ever calm down?" Bill demanded, bodily moving her away and finally breaking the eye-contact. A cold chill had begun to harden my gut.

Sookie peeked out from behind Hoyt, her eyes wide.

"Playing Wii gets her to focus...but wouldn't call it calm."

Fifteen minutes later we saw exactly why Hoyt wouldn't call it calm.

"I'M GONNA CRACK OPEN YOUR FUCKING SKULL, BITCH!" Maxine cackled, her voice ringing through the big house like the wail of a banshee. In front of the TV, she flailed, blasting fire at all sorts of creatures on the flatscreen in front of the couch.

Almost everybody had found their way into the living room, pacing anxiously behind where I sat on the sofa, watching the carnage that the portly blonde woman was inflicting. For someone who was more than likely driven out of her mind by the magical touch of a mythical cult member, she was pretty good at Wii.

"So," Bill maneuvered around her with a look of absolute distaste. "She says God is coming?"

"Yes, sir," Hoyt replied politely. On the screen, his mother had maneuvered over a dead alien and was trying to T-bag it. "And that everybody's waiting over at Merlotte's so that they can catch Sam and take him over to Maryann's."

Maryann? I turned, finally tearing my gaze away from Maxine to see Sookie round on the tall man, her brows furrowing. "Maryann's? Where's that?"

I didn't remember there being a person named maryann. In a town as small as this and with a power as far-reaching as my own I knew relatively everyone. Hoyts head dipped, his face crinkling in discomfort. Nervously, his gave flicked from Sookie to me and then back again.

"It's uh-" He took a deep breath before stumbling on. Beside him, Jessica winced. "Well, it's your house."

"Excuse me?" I snarled, the room swaying as I jumped to my feet.

"What?" Sookie snapped, her hand reaching out to steady me.

"Yeah," Maxine whispered vehemently, still jabbing erratically at the TV. "They're gonna rip that boy open and serve him up like barbecue!"

I grunted. "Thanks, Satan."

My head gave another throb as Sookie's eyes flashed, her attention narrowing. "Hoyt, has anyone been attacked by something with claws?"

"And a bull head," I added, rubbing at the bridge of my nose. "If that helps."

"Well, I heard Arlene say that that poor woman you found in Andy's car had her back scratched up pretty bad." Not helpful, I thought. To know if this was connected, we would actually need to see the scratches since they were very distinct. "And then I also heard someone say that Daphne had some kind of weird scar on her back."

I frowned, thrown. That didn't make sense. Once someone got scratched there was no way to take that back. It was a slow, painful death that followed. Sookie's gaze met mine, her brows furrowing.

"We should talk to her," Bill said.

"I don't particularly think that now is the time for talking," I mused, dipping a chin to where Maxine was currently frothing at the mouth, whispering emphatic promises of violence to the aliens on screen. "I think it's a little too late for that."

"Well, yeah," Hoyt stumbled, nodding baleful. He gulped. "And also she's dead." His face soured. "She had her heart cut out just like the other one."

"Fudge!" Sookie swore, sinking into Bill's side.

A sharp clap cut through the air, sending all heads whipping toward Jason. "I'm going to Merlotte's!"

Gasping, we rushed after him into the entryway.

"Jason if this is the same creature we think this might be, you don't want to go anywhere near it!" Bill exclaimed and I shuddered at the very memory of those claws digging into me.

"You're gonna get yourself killed," I snarled, leaning heavily against the bannister.

Jason's hand stilled on the doorknob. "I ain't about to sit back and let some monster destroy my town."

"Jason, this would be one of those times to use your head," Sookie breathed, hurrying toward him with anxiety in her eyes. Fear permeated the air, stress a heavy hitter afterwards and for once, I took a deep breath of air, the pounding in my head lessening. Getting off on your own family's fears? That was kind of a new level of fucked up.

Jason's eyes hardened at the cynicism. "Oh, I am. I ain't never been so clear in my whole life. This here is the war I've been training for."

"Jason-"

"He can take care of himself." I was more than surprised to see Bill jump forward, his hand landing heavily on Sookie's shoulder. "We've seen that."

I had a flash of him in our backyard, covered in swamp water and holding a dinky Nerf gun that we had stolen from the neighbors. He had always been one for grand gestures - random flares of selflessness followed by lapses of debauchery. And here he was - a grown man and ready to go out into a town driven mad by some ethereal creature to hunt down a guy that he had barely said two words to this past year.

I met Sookie's gaze, shaking my head. She looked halfway to tears. "He's a grown adult."

Her bottom lip gave a treacherous quiver before she rushed our brother into a desperate hug. "Be careful, you hear?" Jason gave a silent nod, burying his nose in her hair. "Drive your car straight up to Merlottes, get inside as fast as you can and do not go into the woods by yourself."

"I won't."

She pulled back, frowning up at him. "I mean it."

"I know," he whispered, kissing her forehead. "I promise."

I moved forward, pulling him into a hug as they separated. If he ran into that manead he could actually die, I realized. I shut my eyes, leaning more securely into him. "We both know you won't do any of that stuff you agreed to so just promise that you won't die a horrible, grisly death," I whispered, low enough that I wouldn't get yelled at by Sookie.

A low chuckle rumbled from him to me. "You know I can't do that, Rune."

I sighed, pulling back and lightly punching him in the shoulder. His hazel eyes locked on me, a sad smile curling his lips. "At least go kick some ass?"

He winked, reaching for the door. "You know it."

And then he was gone, Sookie's face twisting in panic as the door shut quietly behind him. For a moment, we didn't move, the sound of Maxine's crooning creating an eerie tension in the air.

Finally, Sookie coughed, rubbing a hand over her face before spinning back to Hoyt and Jessica. "Where's Tara?"

Hoyt shuffled awkwardly, risking a quick glance to where Bill stood, pensive and silent. "Uh, she's been partying pretty hard over at Mary-" I snarled, flashing a glare his way as Sookie's hands balled into tight, little fists, her teeth flashing. He winced. "It's just something people say - party at Maryanne's."

"Is she homeless?" I snapped. Behind me, Sookie was scrambling around for her purse. "She had to light up our house?"

Hoyt rubbed a nervous hand over his neck. "From what I heard, she was there because…" Sookie glared across the foyer. "Because Tara said she could-"

"I gotta get over there," Sookie snapped, nearly yanking the door from its frame as she went. Grunting, I shot out a hand, stopping her.

"We don't even know what's over there-" I whispered, feeling something a lot like fear tighten my gut. Distantly, I remembered the promise that I had made to Eric. If this Maryanne turned out to be-

"Coo-coo over there said that they were gonna try and fry Sam over at Merlotte's," Sookie whispered, understanding lighting her eyes as our gaze met. Her hand rested on mine for a moment, squeezing reassuringly. "I'm willing to bet that whatever attacked us that night is keeping up camp there."

"And that Maryanne is just another crazy," I supplied, foreboding chilling my bones. I thought it over for a moment, rubbing a hand over my neck in agitation. Things were moving so fast - I glanced to the side, catching sight of Maxine, her jaw lax as she went back over to a dead body on the screen and set it on fire again. No way in hell was I letting Sookie out with those things around… And… And it had to be a safe bet. I nodded, letting go of Sookie's arm and slipping past her into the dank Louisiana night.


"You have reached the voicemail box of-" I gave a foul curse, slamming the phone down onto the seat beside me.

Sookie's eyes met mine in the rearview mirror, streetlights and motel signs speckling her eyes with light. "No answer?"

I had been trying to call Eric for the better half of the ride, impending doom and my own bodies response to the town being this devoid of any sort of night terrors of general fears, making me feel like a trapped dog. From where Bill sat in the front seat, I saw a tick in his jaw go off. They had been sharing looks - looks that made me feel exposed and-

I gulped, pushing away the insecurities. Eric had duties - duties to his maker and his district and - and just because we had had sex a couple of times that didn't mean that he had to come running at my every call.

"Promise me you will wait for me."

I shut my eyes, my gut tightening reflexively over the sweeping insecurities that were suddenly gripping me. I let out a thick breath, my next words more vulnerable sounding than I wanted them to be. "He told me he would be busy."

"He is often busy," Bill muttered dryly and for some reason that was more of a strike than if he had actually reached back and slapped the shit out of me.

I jammed a heel into my eyes. The headaches were becoming worse. I could barely think. Gritting my teeth against the lance-like pain, I typed out a quick message and then tossed my phone onto the floor as little yellow came to a full halt.

"What in God's name..?" I heard Bill breath as both of them got out of the car, moving slowly, almost cautiously.

The raw smell of blood and meat greeted my nose as I slid out behind them, my eyes immediately going to the little circle of light cast by a string of fairy lights on the ground. It was circling our Gran's favorite oak, the jagged edges of it reaching up to the sky like a hand grasping for a rope in the sea. My mouth went dry at the wet, scarlet cast of the it's barren limbs. Someone had stripped it's leaves, cut into its many branches until there was nothing but three jagged stubs.

"Whatever the hell it is," Sookie breathed, her face twisted in horror. Slowly, they neared, both of them taking hesitant steps toward it. "It reeks."

"It's-" I blinked rapidly, catching the jutting carcass of a ribcage tied to a lower hanging branch. "It's meat. Raw meat. Jesus."

The insistent sound of flies buzzing rapidly filled my ears as I took an unsteady step forward, my whole being screaming for me to not go further. Stay back, my mind pounded. A lower sound like the slow glide of fingers across silk drifted toward me as I moved past, going toward the desolate darkness of my own home. My eyes cut to the side once more, realizing what that sound was.

Maggots had started to tunnel their way through the flesh and tendons. Jesus christ. Those aren't all animals - I gagged, feeling my throat tighten down at the realization. No. No.

Pain battered at me, making my eyes water as I swayed forward another step, following blindly after Bill and Sookie. "I'm about one more meat tree away from dipping."

That was a lie. I was already dipping - if not physically, definitely mentally. Our house was so coated in darkness that I could barely make out the outline - as if the very moon had deserted this strip of land. My gut tightened, realizing belated how stupid this was. Candle stood a silent vigil at our open front door, wavering slightly in the damp heat.

It looked like the time that we had been gone was years and not days. Moss and vines clung onto the wooden frame of the door. Mud coated the walls, hand prints barely discernible in all of the muck. The imprint of fingers clawing along the walls was frenzied, making the paint look almost cartoonish - like a toddlers art project.

"Tara?" Sookie called, reaching back nervously for Bill's hand.

Our house was ransacked, twigs and scraps of trash littering the floors on either side of the entryway. Our dining room table had a golden bowl on it, something thick and murky congealing inside of it. I could smell rotting food and body odor somewhere close by. Pictures that had been hung or placed neatly in the living room and along the walls were shattered, lying broken on the floor.

A chill ran up my spine as I caught the scurry of footsteps somewhere nearby.

There was no way that anyone could be living in this. Not - not like this. I swallowed thickly, turning to where the tree with it's decoration of raw meat sat illuminated in our front yard. Someone spent a lot of time on that. And they had done it recently.

"We need to get out of here before they come back," I whispered, my mouth cottony. Bill's eyes caught mine and for once, I thought we might have been in complete agreement.

The shrill sound of Sookie's phone cut through the air followed by the even more grating sound of her answering. "Lafayette! Where's Tara?" Her eyes darted to me. Impatiently, I jerked my chin toward the door. "I'm here in what used to be my living room." The pounding in my head went up a notch. Across the line, I heard an exclamation. "Is Tara okay?"

"We need to leave," I whispered again, tears starting to prick my eyes. Bill's hand grasped onto my shoulder, making me jolt at the chill.

"RUN!" I heard that from across the room, Lafayette's voice rising with rabid panic. I lurched to the side, barely keeping my feet as Sookie yanked Bill away and toward the side door-

"What…" God, my head felt like it was about to split open. Blurrily, I swiped away the tears that were clouding my vision, ramming into Bill's back as he came to a full halt. Because right in front Sookie, completely barring our exit was a willowy woman, her hair gently curled. Her face held a regal sort of beauty, nothing that would stop you dead but something that was ageless. Her smile was feline. "...Are you doing in my house?"

Sookie's teeth bared, her shoulders going up. "This is not your house."

"It is now," she purred and I gave a growl as she advanced, her strides even as she pushed my sister farther and farther into the living room and us along with her. I reached out, yanking my sister behind me in a quick motion, my teeth bared. The brunette grinned, her eyes lighting. "My, my ~ We meet again. Been a while, old friend."

Something cold and altogether shattering crept through me, making the throbbing in my head seem almost distant. I knew that voice - that voice -

God, you fucked up so bad.

"I strongly suggest you remove yourself immediately," Bill bit out, stalking forward with an intent that could only be described as murderous.

Looking at a hundred year plus vampire and smiling wasn't something that I would exactly call wise. And the fact that the maenad did just that made my legs seize up in the attempt to run. I grappled with Sookie, pushing her even farther behind me.

"You found yourself quite the specimen," she mused. My eyes darted around the space. Trapped. We would have to get around her to leave. My breath starting to come at rapid intervals, the pounding in my head only bringing me closer to panic. I was hungry - so hungry. There was only Sookie's fear to feed off of and maybe if I pushed her closer to her nightmares - I grunted, realizing dizzly that the maenad was staring at me with a half-hearted grin on her lips. Smirking, she turned her attention back to Bill, speaking slowly, sure of her every word. "Though I daresay nothing's stopping him from one day leaving you cold."

"You don't scare me," Sookie spat, glaring at the taller woman over my shoulder. Violently, I hissed at her to shut the fuck up.

My fingers shook as I clenched my hands into tight fists. "You don't know what you're talking about right now."

The maenads teeth flashed a shocking white in the candlelight, her eyes glittering as she took me in. "Feeling a bit strained?"

"Go to hell," I spat. Stupid. Her hand was wrapped around my throat so quickly that I didn't have a chance to blink. Air struggled into my lunges, patches of light popping at the corner of my vision as I clawed at her hands.

You seem a bit stronger than the others I've had. I felt a strangled scream tear from me, my body physically in that living room but my mind - my very soul - stuck on that cold table, the doctor's fingers digging into my raw flesh. And worse - so much worse - I could feel her slithering inside of my mind. It felt like she had the ability to just wrap me up and never let me go. So much violence.


I was nine again, standing over a little boy's shivering body. His fingers clawed desperately at his throat. I could feel him dying. Feel the terror. And I wanted it-


My head bounced off the wood floor, stars zinging across my vision as I gasped. Hands grappled with my body, trying to level me off the ground.

"Runa-" Sookie was sobbing, something wet splattering along my cheeks as she forced my into a sitting position. "We need to go-"

"RAVAGE ME!" Someone was choking. Blurrily, I forced myself to look around, struggling to my hands and knees as Sookie screamed. God. Couldn't see - the gash over my eye had opened up again, stinging my eyes as blood dribbled down my brow.

Everything was happening too fast-

Bill stumbled, leaving the menaed's giggling form in a fit of gagging, foul foam and black tar slithering past his lips and splattering against the floor. Deep horror made me knees weak as he grunted, his face contorting in an all-too human expression. Shivering, he fell, Sookie's body swaying as she went to catch him. Hysteric laughter bounced off the wall, my insides going ice cold with the noise as Bill stuttered, Sookies body giving out as they both went down.

We were gonna -

She's going to kill us-

I promised Eric-

White hot panic and rage took over, gracefully letting me go into blank action. There was no time to think about the past, what could have been, what I should have done, how stupid this whole thing had been. It was either I moved right now or I watched my sister and her lover die.

So I leapt, forcing myself to move even though my whole body felt like it was made out of lead. Scrambling, both of us rolled, crashing into the fireplace. My elbow rammed into the fire poker, making me grunt. For a moment, the maenad's eyes went wide, her smile frozen in shock as he went down together.

That was it. That was all the time I needed. This wasn't a perfect plan. If I took the time to think about it, it wouldn't even be a good one.

"RUN!" I screamed, wrapping my fingers around the slim column and pressing down with everything I had. Please, die. Please don't make me break my promise.

Her long fingers curled around my wrists and I felt a zing of recognition.

Old friends.

I was like her.

Blackness seeped into my vision, clouding the edges of my gaze. Desperately, I shook my head, trying to fight against whatever she was doing to me. I was becoming trapped-

"RUNA-"

"BILL, GET HER THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" I shrieked, sounding half-animal. Her eyes - her eyes were so - My fingers loosened, giving way a bit as she grinned up at me.

Distantly, I heard the door slam against the wall, bursting through the drywall. But that was - Fogginess rolled over my mind, my gaze trapped by the dark bottomless well of - of -

Who was this?

My fingers slid away from her throat completely, my body relaxing.

"That's a good girl," the brunette whispered, her nails scraping along my cheek. I had been here for a reason. I had had my hands around her neck for a reason. But I couldn't - I couldn't remember. My brows furrowed, making the woman tut. "Now what could possibly make you have an expression like that?"

Delicately, she nudged me off of her, my mouth watering from - I glanced up at her, watching as she rolled gracefully to her feet. I was really hungry. Grinning, the woman leaned down, her fingers cupping my chin.

"Are you my enemy?" I asked. There was something - something that I needed to stop. I didn't know much but I knew that the world was made up of enemies. Enemies and people that were keeping you around as a weapon to be used.

Her smile was serene. "Not particularly." Straightening, she tapped my cheek. "You and I are about to have so much fun."


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