Disclaimer

All rights go to Charline Harris and Allan Ball. I only own my original plotlines and characters.


❝ She's not getting drunk for the hell of it

she's getting drunk to numb the hell of it. ❞

- Sean Bates


JULIETTE STACKHOUSE LIKED to think she didn't care about death. That it was just another part of being human and while that statement might be true to an extent, that didn't mean she didn't find death hard or that she liked it. On the contrary at this moment, she couldn't hate death more for ripping away such a bright soul, especially so brutally.

She thought when the time came she could handle death and maybe for her own mortality that proved to be true but it sent a cold pit in her stomach when she thought about someone she cared for losing their life and right now all she felt was cold, as she sat through Adele Stackhouse's funeral.

People brought all sorts of flowers for Adele like lilies, carnations, roses but none of them had any real meaning, they were just the ones cheap enough to buy to show their condolences.

Juliette however bought sunflowers, she gained some looks but she didn't care because if Adele could be any flower in the world she'd be a sunflower, bright, happy, and strong. Juliette knew her grandmother wouldn't want to be remembered for her death, so she brought flowers that symbolized her life instead.

Juliette sat in between Sookie and Jason stiffly, half-heartedly listening to the lament for Adele. Juliette had already said goodbye to her grandmother and everything else in her opinion was just dragging it out, Juliette would mourn in her own way and her way didn't include listening to the vultures talk about Adele as if they knew her.

To make matters worse, Juliette's eyes caught sight of the man she hated with every fiber of her being. Juliette tensed, her limbs shaking in anger at his gall to show his face at Adele's funeral. He was wheeled in and settled next to Jason. Sookie's hand that was holding Juliette's tightened in fear and Juliette just gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Uncle Bartlett, what are you doing here?" Sookie questioned quietly, her eyes filled with a mix of shock and fear.

"She was my sister," He responds slowly.

Juliette sent him a harsh glare. "You haven't been part of this family for a long time," She hisses.

"Jules, Sook, come on." Jason sighs, "Give the guy a break."

"Shut the—" Juliette cuts herself off, snapping her jaw with a slight click as she heard the minister speak up.

"—Honey? You wanted to say a few words?" The minister questions softly, his eyes on Sookie.

Sookie hesitantly made her way up to the stage and Juliette turned back to her brother.

"Why is he here?" She growls lowly.

"He's Gran's brother, he deserves to be here," Jason states, and Juliette's eyes slightly widen.

"You invited him?" Jason nods, Juliette shakes her head, clenching her fists in anger, "You have no idea what you just fucking did."

"Adele Stackhouse was everything to me. She wasn't just my grandmother. She was my parent, my teacher, and my best friend." Sookie pauses her speech looking at the crowd with slightly wide eyes and Juliette knew what her sister was hearing, but there wasn't anything they could do about it, no matter how much Juliette wanted to punch each and every one of their insensitive faces. "To say she'll be missed...just doesn't cut it 'cause...I can't even imagine a world without her in it. Sh-she was always there, with a kind word, and a hot meal...and a shoulder to cry on. Not just for me, but..for everyone who knew her...Shut up!"

Juliette raised an eyebrow, she never expected her sister to be the one to finally explode on the people, in fact, Juliette was betting it would be herself, with her already thinning patience.

"All of you just shut the fuck up!" Sookie screams, there was a scattered gasp through the crowd as they all stared at Sookie horrified.

Sookie realizing what she did, started trembling and Juliette was already out of her seat and chasing after her sister, having anticipated that Sookie would run off, Jason hot on her heels.

"Jules! Sookie! Can you two just hold up a sec!" Jason calls out.

Juliette nearly trips as her sister suddenly whirls around to glare at their brother.

"Why do you can try to hit me again?" She snaps, "Go ahead tell me how it's all my fault, tell me how you wish it were me in that coffin. I deserve it."

"No, Sooks, no" Juliette sighs, "This isn't your fault, no matter what all those idiots think."

"I'm sorry," Jason pants, "I'm so sorry," He moves to take a step forward but both Sookie and Juliette take a step back.

"Don't touch me," Sookie snaps.

Jason's eyes fill with hurt at his sister's actions, "Well I didn't mean to hurt you, either of you, you two gotta know that."

"You invited uncle Bartlett!" Juliette snaps.

"How could you do that?!" Sookie cries out.

"He has a right to be here!" Jason exclaims, "Look, I know he and Gran had their problems, but whatever they were, it don't matter no more," He states softly, "'Cause that's what family does, we forgive each other."

Juliette let out a dry chuckle, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Juliette, Sookie, please," Jason pleads, "I mean we're all we got."

A pang goes straight to Juliette's heart, Jason's words wrung true but she was just so angry, she needed time.

Sookie, however just shook her head, "We've got nothing," She states and before either of them could stop here she ran away.

Jason turns his pleading eyes to his twin, "Jules, please," He whispers.

Juliette straightened her shoulders, forcing herself not to give in to her brother's pleas, "Who gave it to you?" She instead demands.

Jason shakes his head, his eyes filled with regret, "I can't tell you that."

The anger Juliette's been keeping a tight grasp on slips and she roughly grabs his face with one hand, "Who. The. Fuck. Gave. You. The. Fucking. V!" She growls.

Juliette was reaching her boiling point, she felt like she was drowning in her emotions, pain for losing her grandmother, worry for her siblings, anger for her brother and whoever gave him the V, she was overwhelmed and this time no amount of alcohol would help because at the end of the day her problems would still be there.

"Jules, you'll hate him," Jason says, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Who—" Juliette cuts herself off as the realization hit her, "I'm gonna kill him," she whispers.

There was one person in Bon Temps that sold better than average drugs and Jason refusing to tell her made it much more clearer but she never thought in a million years that he would have given her brother V.

Anger flood through her body, so much that she was physically shaking. "I'm gonna kill him," She repeats before pushing past her brother and started to storm back to the funeral.

Jason tried to grab Juliette's arm but she roughly pulled out of his grip and continued on her warpath to find Lafayette.

"You!" She growls when her eyes land on Lafayette, his eyes widen and he quickly stands up.

"What's th—" Before he could even get two words out, he found himself on the floor clutching his cheek in pain.

The funeral guests let out a shocked gasp that Juliette ignored, her only focus was on Lafayette.

"Juliette!" Tara exclaims but Juliette ignores her too as she kneels down so she could look Lafayette in the eye.

"You are dead to me, stay away from me and my family," She states stoically, her blue eyes filled with cold fury, "And if I see you anywhere near my brother, I swear to whatever fucking god is listening that I'll kill you."

With those final words, Juliette stands up and walks away ignoring all the horrified stares she was receiving. Jason tried to talk to her but she ignored him, everything at the moment felt hollow.

Juliette walked till she knew she was completely alone before she pulled out her phone and dialed the one person that she needed to talk to.

"Two calls in the same week, I feel special," he chuckles trailing off when he realizes Juliette wasn't laughing with him, "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" He questions, his playful tone turning concerned.

Hearing, Cladius' voice seemed to bring on a wave of emotions and tears filled Juliette's eyes. "She's dead." Was all the blonde could utter.

"What? Who's dead?" He questions worriedly but he was answered with a sob, "Jules, sweetheart, you're worrying me, who's dead?"

"Gran," She cries, "Oh god...it was...it was horrifying."

Claudius offered some comforting words as Juliette sobbed over the phone, hoping it would help calm the blonde down.

When Juliette's sobs quieted down and turned to sniffles, he spoke up, "I'm getting a ticket and I'll be here by the end of the week," He informs and Juliette could hear the clicking of keyboards from his side of the line.

Juliette shakes her head, "No, no, it's fine, you don't need to," She disagrees.

"Sweetheart, you just lost your grandmother and spent the last hour crying on the phone, I need to be there for you," He states gently.

"Claudius, it's fine, please you don't need to come all this way, hearing your voice is more than enough," Juliette assures, the truth was she didn't want Claudius to come and end up murdered. Even though the killer seemed to be targeting females, she didn't want to take the chance, not when it came to his life.

"Juliette..." He sighed.

"Please Claudius, trust me it won't be a good time, I promise I'll be fine," She once again reassures and great lets out another sigh but this one was a sigh of defeat.

"Alright sweetheart, but if you need anything, anything at all—"

"—I'll call," She states, her lips tugging into a small smile.

"You know I love you," He says.

This time a full-blown smile makes away across her lips, "I love you too."

That night Juliette found herself at Fangtasia. Not wanting to endure all the pitying and judging looks from the locals, she decided to drive down to Shreveport for a drink instead.

"Well, well, we'll back already" Pam smirks, when she sees the blonde take a seat at the bar.

"As much as I'd love to continue our flirty banter, I've had a crappy few days and I'd appreciate it if I can drink away my problems in peace" Juliette states tiredly before ordering, "Three shots of tequila" Juliette orders, placing a few bills onto the table.

"What got you so moody doll face?" Pam questions sliding the shots towards her.

"Grandmother died," Juliette states shortly, "and you're the only bar close enough without all the judging locals."

Pam just hums, she didn't say sorry for your loss and Juliette didn't want her too. Pam watched with a slightly raised eyebrow as the blonde downs in all three shots without even batting an eyelash.

Some part of Juliette knew this was a stupid idea, getting drunk in a bar full of vampires but the other part, the angry and grief-filled part couldn't care less.

Juliette shot Pam a sarcastic smile before swiftly moving towards the dance floor and started to dance. Letting go of everything and focusing on the music.

After hours of dancing and drinking, Juliette decided it was finally time to leave, after saluting a goodbye to Pam, she slightly stumbled her way out of the club, just as she exited the bar, her shoulder bumped into another's by accident.

"Watch where you're going," The female snapped.

"I could say the same to you," Juliette snaps back.

The woman's eyes flash dangerously, "What did you just say?" She growls.

"Oh did you not hear me or are you just deaf?" Juliette mocks, a smile playing at her lips at the prospect of a potential fight.

"You little bitch," The woman sneers and it seemed Juliette did indeed piss off the wrong person as the woman turned out to be a vampire. Her fangs clicked out with a hiss, "I think I just found some lunch."

"Get your fangs anywhere near me and I'll kill you," Juliette threatens.

The vampire just smirks and in a flash she pushed Juliette up against the wall, holding the blonde up by her throat.

"You smell delicious," She purrs, "Maybe I'll keep you as mine, my own personal blood bag."

The woman leaned into bite Juliette but Juliette surprised her by shooting out her arm, Juliette's silver bracelet coming in contact with the females face causing her to let out a pained shriek as her skin sizzled and burned. The vampire immediately let Juliette go as she grabbed her face, this gave Juliette enough time to grab the mini stake she started keeping on her at all times.

"You bitch!" The vampire shrieked, she launched herself at Juliette, this time making sure to grab her hands so Juliette couldn't try anything else but before she could bite Juliette a voice had her stopping in her tracks.

"Elizabeth, darling, unfortunately, I can't let you do that," The voice of Eric Northman stated, "Juliette, here, is a person of interest, so you need to let her go now."

Elizabeth glares at Juliette, her hands slowly letting go of Juliette's and Juliette takes Elizabeth distraction and shoves a stake through her stomach making her hiss in pain and let go of Juliette completely.

When Elizabeth pulled the stake out of her stomach, she went to attack Juliette but Eric got in between them.

"Leave" Eric commands firmly.

Elizabeth glances between the two with a glare, when her eyes land on Juliette they were filled with promise that it wasn't over, after one more glance she sped away.

Once Elizabeth was surely gone, Eric turns towards Juliette, "That was incredibly stupid" He comments.

"Probably but after the day I've had I really couldn't give a fuck" Juliette shrugs.

Eric's nose scrunches up as he gets a whiff of her breath, "You're drunk," He states.

"Not yet, though I wish I was," Juliette says, before pushing past him. Eric grabs her arm causing her to turn back to face him, "Look, dude, thanks for the save and all but like I told Barbie, I've had a shitty day, so with all due respect fuck off."

Eric quirks an eyebrow, his eyes search hers and whatever he finds has him letting her go, "Fine, but you and I will talk again soon," He states.

Juliette shoots him a sarcastic smile, "Can't wait, Ken Doll."