Howdy folks – forgot to say one more thing. I'm sure the 'Vampire Steve' storyline is going to be hilarious, but I completely forgot about it when starting this story so I'm just going to continue forgetting. Soooo, Jessica left Jason's on Halloween and absolutely no random crazy ex-Christians showed up on his doorstep after she left. Ta.

Chapter 4

Jason returned to their booth in the far corner of Merlott's with a beer and a bottle of Tru Blood, ignoring the looks pretty much every other punter was sending his way, especially when they noticed his fresh bite marks.

'You'd think they'd have gotten used to it round here by now,' he said under his breath when he sat back down. Jessica looked uncomfortable, and played with the label on her bottle, absently.

'We don't have to stick around, if you don't want to,' she said. 'I mean… Merlott's was your idea, we can go if you want…'

'Hey, no – Jess, I don't care what they're all thinkin'. I'm not my sister, I can't hear it. It doesn't bother me. And besides, I'm pretty sure they've all thought worse things about me before. But hey, if you wanna go, we'll go. I was thinkin' we'd just have a drink here – and maybe I'll have a burger or something – and then we'd head out to Shreveport –'

'To Fangtasia?'

'Well… yeah, maybe. Or some place else. Wherever you want to go…' Jason frowned. He knew it was going to be difficult to be with Jessica in Bon Temps, even when Hoyt wasn't around, but now she didn't even seem to want to go anywhere with him, not even Shreveport. 'Is something wrong, Jess?' he asked, shifting uncomfortably. He wasn't particularly good at this girl stuff. Especially not when the girl in question had a tendency to quite literally bite your head off if you caught her on a bad day.

'It's nothing, I just, um… can we go outside for a minute? Get some fresh air, you know?' She didn't wait for him to agree, she just got up out of the booth and made it to the door with impossible speed. Jason sighed, grabbed his beer, and headed after her, leaving the discarded bottle of Tru Blood on the table. He should have remembered she wouldn't drink it – she only drank human blood now.

'Hey Jess, wait up!' Jason called after her when he made it outside. She was half way across the lot before he caught up with her. 'Hey, what's up? It's more than just those hicks makin' faces at us, isn't it?'

'It's nothing,' she dismissed, wiping at her eyes absently, though no tears had fallen. 'Just...Vampire stuff.'

'Vampire stuff?' Jason repeated, stopping suddenly and grabbing her arm to stop her from wandering any further. 'Like what?'

'Like, nothing you need to worry about,' Jessica snapped, shaking her arm free. 'Not everything concerns you Jason Stackhouse.'

Jason was struck dumb for a second. Only a second mind you. 'Now hang on, what's that supposed to mean?'

Jessica shook her head, eyes on the ground. 'Nothing. Sorry, I'm just...' she threw her hands up in the air and gave up, sitting down on an old cut off tree trunk with a huff and a sigh. 'Okay, look. If I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell anyone else. Not even Sookie.'

Jason held up his hands. 'I promise. Not a word.'

Jessica looked up at him through hazy eyes and smiled at his honest face. She'd never expected that he could be like that, so completely trusting of her, of anyone. Maybe he was just a bit dumb, but she hoped it wasn't that.

'There's some serious shit going down with the AVL,' Jessica explained. 'Bill's been tryin' to keep me out of it, but I've picked up on a few things. I know that Bill killed Nan Flanagan, and Eric helped him do it. I know there's a price on both their heads after all that crap with the witches, and probably me and Pam too. And there's something else big, that Bill's been freakin' out about all week, only he thinks he's hiding it from me, and I'm here with you, tryin' to be all normal and couple like and not to think about it, but it's all the hell I can think about!'

The words tumbled from her mouth faster than she'd thought possible, and Jason just managed to follow them.

'Wait... Bill killed Nan Flanigan? The Vamp PR woman?'

'Yeah, but the AVL still have their eye on them, and they could show up at any time. I went to Fangtasia two nights ago to try and find Eric and Pam but Eric wasn't there and Pam wouldn't come out of the office all night. Something else is going on Jason, and they won't tell me what it is. It's like being a child again!'

Suddenly, Jessica's Vampire senses bristled and a twig snapped behind them. Jessica spun around on her heel, instinctively stepping in front of Jason and gasped when she saw what faced them. The three wolves beared their teeth and growled, but otherwise stayed back, as if waiting for permission to strike. Jason's grip on Jessica's arm suddenly tightened and then she saw why. Stepping out of the trees behind the wolves was none other than Russell Edgington.

'Well, well, so this is the King of Louisiana's progeny,' Russell remarked, hands casually stuffed in his pockets as he rocked back on his heels. 'Congratulations my dear, you're positively demure. I suppose after seeing his last morsel of choice, I was expecting something a little more... slutty...'

Jason forgot himself at that and stepped forward, Jessica's iron grip the only thing stopping him from marching right up to Russell.

'That's my sister you're talkin' about, watch your god damn mouth,' he ground out the empty threat and Russell chuckled.

'My my, your sister hmm? I guess that means you taste just as sweet as she does...'

'He doesn't taste like Sookie,' Jessica said quickly. 'He's got no fairy blood in him, not even a little bit. Drinkin' from him ain't going to give you any super Vampire fairy powers so you can just leave us the hell alone. Bill knows where I am,' she added, as an afterthought.

'Oh my dear, I couldn't care less what King Bill thinks he knows. In fact, I rather hoped the little note I sent him would have him marching right over here so he could witness his progeny's bloody demise first hand, but I guess he's still just a little bit too dumb. Some things never change. Now, it really doesn't matter if I have to rip through your human to get to you Miss Hamby, but the thing is, I only just got the blood out of my shirt from last night's little progeny party, so you'll excuse me if I leave that one to the dogs.'

Jessica tried to push Jason behind her again, but he stood his ground and looked ready to fight. As ready as an unarmed man faced with half a pack of werewolves could be, anyway. Everything seemed to happen at once - the wolves leapt, Jason dodged, Russell whipped out a silver chain and in an instant had it around Jessica's throat, his own hands protected by silk gloves that had previously seemed to be purely for show. Jessica screamed for help, the cry ripping from her lungs loud enough to carry through to the bar and beyond, but it barely had time to ring out before Russell yanked on the chain again and silenced her.

'Oh now, you know you really don't need to scream like that to bring Daddy running,' he hissed in her ear. 'You just need to think it - it helps if you're in pain. We can feel our progeny's pain you know. Just like I felt Talbot when Eric plunged a stake into his back. Just like Eric's going to feel it when I break his child into bloody pieces. Just like Bill's feeling right now... oh yes, you're all going to feel it sweetheart. But if you're lucky, you won't have to for much longer...'

Jessica struggled, her eyes searching wildly for Jason, but she couldn't see anything but the stars. All she could hear was growling and yelping, and her own silent cries for help thundering through her ears as the white hot silver burned into her skin.