Disclaimer
All rights go to Charline Harris and Allan Ball. I only own my original plotlines and characters.
❝ Surround yourself with people
who have issues, because people
who have issues always have alcohol. ❞
- Unknown
THREE DAYS, that was how long Juliette Stackhouse had technically disappeared from Bon Temp. No note, no call, she was just gone. On the first day, Sookie, even Jason texted demanding to know where she was and if she was okay and after hundreds of texts she responded with three words.
Be back later.
That was three days ago. Now, once again Juliette found her phone being blown up but instead of texts, it was calls.
With a sigh, she answers, "Sookie, relax, I'm on my home right now," She says before her sister could even speak.
"Bill's dead," She states.
Juliette furrows her brows, "As in...dead, dead?" She questions.
"Yes!" Sookie snapped, "This isn't time for jokes!"
"Jeez, I wasn't trying to make a joke, I was just clarifying," Juliette states before slightly sighing, "Look I'm an hour out and I'm driving, we'll talk when I get home."
Sookie grumbles an agreement and hangs up. Juliette lets out a sigh in relief before re blasting her music, she had an hour left before she arrived in Bon Temps, which meant another hour of pretending she had no problems and she was going to use that hour to it's fullest, which included singing along to classic rock's greatest hits.
When Juliette got back to Gran's house she expected a lot, like her sister crying, or throwing a tantrum, or even grilling her on where's she's been for the last three days but what Juliette didn't expect was to see Sookie and Bill rolling around on the front lawn doing the horizontal tango.
"Jesus Christ!" Juliette screeched, covering her eyes as she turned around, "What the fuck?!"
"Juliette!" Sookie yelped, scrambling to cover herself with her tattered dress.
"Yeah, I'll ask again what the fuck Sookie?!" She exclaims, "You told me Bill was dead! And couldn't you two have found a room or something?! Actually don't answer that, just both of you leave, so I can wash my eyes out with bleach."
Juliette heard a small gust of air and she let out a breath knowing that Bill had Vamp sped Sookie and himself away.
"Welcome home to me," Juliette grumbles, before strolling into the house and going straight for her bed.
The first thing Juliette heard when she arrived at Merlotte's for her shift was the incessant questions for where she had been for the last three days and every single time she just rolled her eyes and responded with, "It's none of your damn business."
Other than that, most of her shift went by uneventfully, except for the parts where she shot Lafayette a death glare anytime he came near her, her hand itching to punch him again.
It was nearing the end of her shift when her brother approached with an unknown girl in tow.
"Juliette!" Jason smiles, only to earn a raised eyebrow from his twin.
"Okay, look I know you're still mad but I want you to meet my new Girlfriend," He says pulling the brunette at his side closer.
"Amy Brewer," The girl smiles, holding out her hand.
Juliette glances at Jason who looks at his twin hopefully before she sighs, shaking the girl's hands.
"Juliette," She states politely.
"Alright, so does this mean you forg—" Jason cuts himself off when he sees that Juliette had walked away to the far side of the bar polishing glasses, and he sighs.
The rest of her shift went by uneventfully and by the time she arrived home, she was met with the sounds of Bill and Sookie's moans.
Juliette huffed in annoyance before grabbing a book and making her way to the back porch to read in peace. About an hour later she heard the doorbell go off, but she ignored it, it went off again but once again she ignored it, when it went off for the third time, Juliette let out an annoyed shout, slamming her book shut and making her way to the door just as her sister ran down the stairs wearing nothing but a nightgown.
Juliette shot her sheepish sister a glare, "Your nips are showing," She states, Sookie's eyes widen and she glances down her chest to see her sister was right and she gasped using her hair to cover them, cursing herself for forgetting to put a bra on.
Juliette rolled her eyes at Sookie's idiocy before yanking the door open to yell at whoever wouldn't leave them alone but the words died at the tip of her tongue when she saw it was Arlene, René, and the kids.
"Hi!" Sookie chirps, the tone told Juliette that her sister had been expecting them.
Juliette just gave the family she was just about to curse six ways to Sunday an awkward smile.
"Sookie, Juliette..." Arlene greets slightly confused as she looks at the youngest Stackhouse, "What's wrong? What took you so long?" The redhead questions.
"I was in the backyard..." Sookie lies.
Juliette snorts, "Actually, I was in the backyard, Sooks was upstairs...dancing," She smirks, changing the last word for the sake of the kids.
Juliette usually wouldn't have done that, but after what she saw and what she heard, this was her payback and she definitely enjoyed the way her sister's cheeks turned bright red.
Both Arlene and René's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, meanwhile, the kids remained clueless as to what the older blonde really meant.
"In your nighty?" Coby questions, looking at an embarrassed Sookie.
"The cat got out," A new voice said, "Made friends with a squirrel," Bill smirked.
The look on Arlene and René's face was priceless, especially when they realized what Juliette really meant when she said dancing.
"Mommy, look it's a vampire!" Lisa exclaimed, running forward.
Arlene immediately follows holding her arm out to stop her kids before they could get too close.
"Uh Sookie, you didn't mention that you had company," Arlene states nervously.
Juliette nods, a smirk on her lips but her eyes were glaring, "Yeah Sooks, it seemed to have slipped your mind."
Sookie shrugs. "I didn't think I had to," She responds lightly.
"Well I gotta right to know who's looking after my children," Arlene retorts and Juliette nods in agreement.
"She's got a point."
Sookie shoots Juliette a quick glare, 'shut the hell up, Jules.'
The smirk on Juliette's face remains as she raises an amused eyebrow, 'make me.'
To Juliette, Sookie was the least intimidating person she's ever met even when she tried to be, it just came off more like a whining little girl who occasionally cussed.
As much as Sookie wanted to get into it with Juliette, Arlene and the family were still there, instead, she just shook her head.
"Well here we are, is there a problem?" Sookie's questions innocently.
Juliette glances down at the kids to see them looking at Bill in wonder, meanwhile, Arlene looks to René for support.
"Ah, take it easy, chère. Mr. Compton's raised a couple of them little ones himself, yeah?" René says looking to Bill for confirmation.
The dark haired vampire nods, smiling, "That's quite right," Bill responds, shooting Lisa and Coby a playful wink.
René seemed to assure Arlene a little bit, but the redhead still looked a little conflicted, so Juliette steps up.
"I can watch them if you want, Sookie and Bill can go back to his place to continue dancing," Juliette offers, her eyes twinkling.
Arlene's eyes widen as she looks between Bill and Juliette, trying to decide who was the lesser evil, ultimately she turns to her children and slides off two of her silver bracelets.
"Keep these on you, you hear? And, um... stay close to your Aunt Sookie," Arlene orders, putting the silver bangles onto Lisa and Coby's wrist.
Juliette shoots a confused Bill and a knowing Sookie a smirk. She knew as much as Arlene loved her, after what happened last time, she wasn't allowed to babysit.
"They'll be fine, I promise," Sookie reassures, before looking at the kids, "Who wants pizza?"
"Me!" Both kids exclaim.
Sookie lets out a small laugh while Juliette's lips tug up, "Good, 'cause that's what we're having." Sookie pulls the children to her side with a bright smile.
"You can eat pizza?" René questions.
Bill shakes his head, "Well, unfortunately, no, but I understand it's delicious," He says.
"Dude, you are missing out," Juliette teases, and everyone lets out a small chuckle.
Sookie and Bill usher the kids into the living room, leaving Juliette to say goodbye to Arlene and René.
"Jules, I love you like you are my own sister, but no way am I letting watch my kids again," Arlene states after she pulls away from the hug she gave Juliette.
"It wasn't that bad," Juliette denies but Arlene looks at her disbelievingly and Juliette nods, "Okay, fine it was bad."
Surprisingly, Juliette didn't have a bad time with her sister, Bill, and the tiny humans. After pizza, Sookie let the kids have some ice cream, and of course, Juliette had to have some too, but instead of the vanilla ice cream Sookie gave to the kids, Juliette grabbed her own special tub of Rum flavored ice cream.
Since she couldn't drink in front of the kids with Sookie also keeping an eye on her, it was the next best thing.
"Whipped cream," Bill states, holding the tub as he walked over to the cheering kids, "I hope you can finish this before your mother comes back." Bill scoops a generous amount of cool whip onto the kid's ice creams making their smile bigger.
"No problem, I ate a whole jar of mayonnaise once," Coby brags.
Both Juliette and Lisa's nose scrunches up in disgust, "I had to watch," Lisa informs.
Bill moves to put it away but Juliette holds out her bowl giving him an expecting look. Bill smiles at the blonde amused as he puts some cool whip on her ice cream, but when she didn't move her bowl, he glanced up to see that her face hadn't changed from that expectant look, so with a sigh, he scoops more on, and Juliette immediately smiles and pulls the bowl back to herself.
"Bill, how come you can't have ice cream?" Coby asks looking up at the vampire with wide and curious eyes.
"You might say that I'm lactose intolerant," Bill answers.
"Just like my Aunt Fern," Coby replies, "Except, she don't tolerate Mexicans."
Coby's comment had Juliette nearly snorting out her ice cream in amusement but she managed to hide it by shoving more ice cream into her mouth.
"Aunt Sookie, is Bill your boyfriend?" Lisa asks as she hands her brother a bowl of hot fudge.
Sookie smiles over at Bill, "Bill, would you say that you're my boyfriend?" She asks batting her lashes.
Coby moves to put the hot fudge back on the table but Juliette clears her throat and when he looks over she gestures over at the bowl. Juliette practically drenched her ice cream with it, earning a disgusted look from Sookie.
"Well, I suppose I'd have to ask permission from Coby and Lisa," Bill responds lightly, "Would it be all right if I was Aunt Sookie's boyfriend?"
"Say no," Juliette mock whispers, shooting both Bill and Sookie a teasing smirk.
Lisa glances over at Juliette before looking back over at the couple, "Do you buy her flowers?"
Juliette's smirk grows as she watches Bill stutter over his reply saying that he hadn't.
"You better. René buys flowers for mama all the time," Lisa scolds, which was funny since Bill had over a century over her.
"Then I will have to mend my ways," Bill replies with a conceding nod.
"You do that, then we'll talk," Lisa states, before eating another spoon of ice cream.
Bill gives the girl a playful wink, smiling when her cheeks redden and a smile appears on her face.
Suddenly, Coby puts his spoon down staring at Bill excitedly, "Can we see your fangs?!"
Sookie immediately gently rejects the ideas but Bill smirks and agrees, he hides his head under the table for a few seconds and when he comes up, Juliette saw that he used two broken bits of waffle cones and some strawberry sauce to imitate vampire fangs.
Juliette, along with everyone smiled and let out a laugh at how ridiculous Bill looked, and the vampire encouraged it with his mock growls.
Eventually, it was time for the kids to go to sleep and Juliette decided to follow in their steps and went to her own room to sleep.
She was at the point of consciousness and unconsciousness when she heard shrieks coming from downstairs, Juliette immediately jumped out of bed and grabbed her bat before rushing downstairs, only to freeze when she saw it was just an excited Sookie, Arlene, and Lisa.
"What the hell?!" Juliette exclaimed, lowering her bat.
Arlene jumps out of her seat and rushes to Juliette, excitedly holding out her hand to show off her engagement ring.
"I'm getting engaged!" Arlene squeals.
Juliette lets out a relieved breath and a sincere smile appears on her lips, "I'm happy for you, Arls," Juliette pulls Arlene in for a quick hug.
"Will you be one of my bridesmaids?" Arlene questions, the look on Juliette's face has everyone laughing, "I'm just kidding, I wouldn't put you through that," Arlene smiles, eliciting a relieved sigh from the blonde.
"Thank god," Juliette mutters, "Anyways, congrats again Arlene, René, and goodnight, I'm tired."
With those final words, Juliette trudges back up the stairs tiredly.
The next night, after Juliette's shift at Merlotte's, she trudged her way up to the porch of her house when she was suddenly snatched up.
"What the fuck?!" She screamed, when her mind finally caught up to what was happening and who's arms she was in.
Juliette's hand twitched to punch the blonde Viking but his words stopped her.
"Unless you would like me to drop you, I suggest you rethink your actions," Eric warns, smirking down at her smugly.
Juliette looks down and her eyes widen when she realizes how high up they were and how fast they were going, also the fact Eric was magically flying.
"What the fuck are you doing?" She squeaks, something that was uncharacteristic of the normally sassy blonde.
"I believe the term is flying," He teases.
Despite, her fear, Juliette shoots him a death glare, "Cut the crap, asshole."
"I said we would talk soon," He states much more seriously, "And you were missing for three days."
Thankfully, Eric seemed to have arrived at his destination as he gently landed and let go of Juliette, who stumbled away from him.
"I think I'm going to be sick," She groans, she waited a few seconds for the queasiness to pass before straightening up, her eyes once again glaring at the Viking, "One, you do that again and I will shove a silver stake up your ass and two, not that I have to explain myself to you but I wasn't missing, I was taking a small vacation to New Orleans," She huffs.
Eric raises an eyebrow, "You decided to go on a vacation to a place that's practically a vampire buffet?" He questions.
Still, too high on adrenaline to fully think straight, she just flips the blond vampire off before storming into what she realized was Fangtasia, not even noticing her sister and Bill as she made her way straight to the bar.
Juliette didn't even care for Longshadow as she hopped over the bar and towards the shelves of alcohol. Longshadow would've stopped her if it weren't for Eric's nod to let her do it.
"I don't like you, but for a vampire, you've got some good shit," Juliette comments before grabbing a bottle of Diplomatico, an expensive brand of Rum.
She pops open the bottle and takes a swing before turning around to see all the occupants staring at her, which included Sookie and Bill.
Juliette's eyebrows furrow, "What are you two doing here? Isn't it date night?" She asks, sauntering over to take a seat by her sister.
"I could ask the same for you, what are you doing here?" Sookie demands.
"I was kidnapped," Juliette deadpans making sure to send another glare Eric's way as she takes another sip from her bottle before looking at the shaking man who she also just noticed was at the table they sat at, "Were you kidnapped too? Cause you looked wrecked."
"You weren't kidnapped, I told you we would talk soon and I happen to need both you and your sisters help," Eric informs.
Juliette rolls her eyes, moving to get up, "Yeah...I'm not much of a helpful person, so find someone else, Ken Doll."
"Sit," Eric orders, and Juliette lets out a huff before once again taking a seat, pouting as she took another swing from her bottle.
"Pam, Longshadow, and I are partners in this club, and we recently noticed that $60,000 has gone missing from our books," Eric informs, strolling around the table she sat at and towards the now crying man, "And Bruce...is our accountant." The crying man now known as Bruce, flinched when Eric put a hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps, you can start by listening to him."
Juliette raises an eyebrow, "I thought vampires have super hearing cause he's not saying anything."
"Don't be coy," Eric reprimands blandly, "It's humbling enough to turn to a human for assistance—"
"You? Humble?" Juliette quietly snorts, earning a warning glare from Eric.
"We know what you and your sister can do," He finishes.
"And I know what you can do too," Sookie speaks up, "Why don't you just glamour him?" She asks,
"Now, don't you think we tried everything before summoning you?" He states, his voice tight trying to rein in his frustration, "So it would be a great favor to me and to Mr. Compton if you both would help us."
"I don't like you and I'm beginning to just tolerate him, so why would I help you?" Juliette questions, only for Sookie to nudge her to be silent.
"If we find out who did it, then what?" She asks.
This time it wasn't Eric who spoke it was Longshadow, "We'll turn that person over to the police and let the authorities handle it from there," He informs.
Sookie lets out a laugh and even Juliette let out a small chuckle, "Hundred it years old, and you're still a terrible liar, come on," Sookie scoffs before turning back to look at Eric, "I'll make you a deal," Sookie states, "If you promise to hand over the person who did this to the police, We'll agree to help you anytime you want."
Juliette who was taking a drink from her bottle, chokes, her eyes widening at her sister's words.
Eric smiles, "Alright," He agrees, "Why not?"
Juliette who finally got over her coughing fit rapidly shakes her head, "No! Not alright!" She exclaims, "Sookie, what the hell? My help was not yours to offer!"
"She has offered and I have accepted, you are now obligated to help me," Eric states with a smirk.
Juliette refrained from chucking the bottle at his or her sister's face and instead she took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
"Fine, since I'm sure your vampire ass will find a way for me to keep this stupid deal, I want to adjust it," Juliette states firmly.
Eric raises an eyebrow for Juliette, "Go on," He nods curiously.
"I want a lifetime of free drinks from here," She demands.
Immediately, Sookie shakes her head, "No" Sookie refuses firmly, "You already drink too much."
"One, fuck off, you got me into this mess and two, once again fuck off because you're not the boss of me," Juliette smiles sarcastically before looking expectantly up at Eric, who was contemplating her offer.
On one hand, he might lose some money but on the other hand, he was a thousand years old and he had hundreds of more paying customers, so it would barely make a dent in his funds and also if he accepted, she would be more inclined to drop by Fangtasia instead of finding some other bar to drink.
"Deal," Eric nods.
While Juliette wasn't happy about the situation she got roped into, she still couldn't help but shoot a smug smile at her glaring sister.
Both sisters turn back to Bruce, and Sookie reaches out to grab his hand while Juliette just focuses on him intensely.
Holy shit, what are these crazy bitches doing?
Why did I agree to work for vampires?
Goddammit it, I knew it was a bad idea.
I've been straight with these fuckers.
Gotta be an idiot to steal from them.
Jesus Christ, I was the one who reported it.
"Bruce, it's okay," Sookie comforts, "Take a deep breath, did you steal their money?"
"No," He whimpers, "No, no, you gotta believe me! I didn't do it! I swear to—"
Juliette scoffs cutting him off, looking at both Sookie and Eric, "Of course, he didn't do it, he's an idiot for working for you but he's not stupid enough to steal from you," Juliette states, her attention drifts back to the shaking man and she leans forwards, and her tone softens up almost hypnotically, "Now, Bruce I need you to calm down and answer me this, do you know who did?"
Bruce slowly calms down, and he shakes his head, "No."
Unknown to the older Stackhouse, Eric leans in slightly more interested, the way she had talked to the guy was almost as if she was glamouring him.
No, I wish. I would turn that fucker in so fast.
Who was it? Couldn't have been Ginger. She's too fucking dumb, although she's hot as shit. I'd fuck her if I could.
"He's telling the truth," Sookie informs, Eric glances at Juliette who nods in confirmation.
"You trust the skinny humans to clear the fat one?" Longshadow demands disbelievingly.
Eric just sighs, "Bring the next one in," He orders and Bruce starts sobbing in relief.
Juliette didn't know how many minds she and Sookie read only for them to come up innocent, but Juliette could feel the strain and she couldn't even drink any more alcohol to dull her powers because she was too close to getting drunk. Thankfully, Pam drags in a blonde, stating she was the last human.
The blonde was wearing next to nothing as she was dragged by Pam to towards the table. "Mhm, yummy," The blonde purrs at Eric before she was forced into the chair.
"Ginger, this woman has some questions for you, be a good girl and answer them, will you?" Eric tells her as if he was talking to a child.
"Aye, aye, master," She nods. Sookie tries to grab Ginger's hand but the woman pulls it away, "Don't you touch me."
Juliette rolls her eyes, before grabbing Ginger's hand in a death grip. The woman yells trying to pull away but Juliette's grip was too tight, so Ginger settled for yelling and swearing.
"You mind?" Juliette questions sarcastically looking at Eric.
He nods at Pam, "Hold her still and shut her up," He orders.
Pam tightly grabs Ginger's shoulders, squeezing till the woman quieted down and Juliette relaxed delving into her mind as Sookie started speaking.
"Ginger, someone's been stealing money from the bar."
"Really? Huh," Ginger said.
Don't look at me, you fucking bitches, I didn't do nothing.
I'll beat the shit out of you if you say I did.
That thought had Juliette huffing out a laugh, "I'd like to see you try, doll."
It wasn't me that took it.
It wasn't me.
Juliette's hand tightens, "You didn't do it...but you know who did," Juliette states.
Both Pam and Eric perk up, while Ginger's eyes widen.
"What? Fuck you," Ginger growls.
Juliette grins mockingly, "You're not my type, now be a doll and tell me who did."
I didn't tell anyone, I swear.
Fuck, he's gonna kill me.
"Who? Who's gonna kill you?" Sookie demands, "Ginger, honey, what's his name?"
Juliette lets out a slight gasp, the pressure in her head fading as Ginger's thoughts went blank, it was the first time she didn't have any thoughts in her head, Ginger's head was like...a vampires.
"I-it's blank," Sookie stutters.
"Someone took the memory," Juliette informs.
Ginger looks at up at Eric, "I don't know anything, I swear," She says, her voice was calm and level, and her thoughts rang true.
"She's been glamoured," Pam states, turning to Eric.
Juliette's eyes widen in realization as she puts the pieces together, "Vampire."
Authors Note
Hey Everyone! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I just wanted to say thank you for all your kind comments they really mean a lot!
