Chapter 3

I do not own any of these characters; they all belong to Charlaine Harris

Okay, well Chapter 2 was kind of in the first part that I posted. This is mostly just filler, but have no fear I've got a few plot twists up my sleeves.

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I was never one for planes. The only fights I had ever taken were actually quite short, and lemme tell you, the flight to Paris France was long. Amelia had gotten us first class seats so at least I wasn't cramped up and sitting next to a stinky old lady or anything. It was kind of weird though. The only planes I'd ever been on before were Anubis the airline that catered to the undead. This time I was flying United and I could hear the thoughts of everyone. I tried to focus in on the people who were really calm. Most of the first class passengers were experienced fliers and I soon found out that the worst part of flying for them was the boredom. The fight was long. Im talking more than a whole day of being in the air. If Eric had decided to follow me he wouldn't be able to get on a flight for at least three days. Also, he had no idea where I was going. I really didn't want him to follow me. I mean what kind of trouble could I get into? It wasn't like I would be hanging around in vampire bars. Plus since no vampires were coming with me I wouldn't be automatically targeted. I was just an innocent tourist.

I slept a lot during the flight. I slept and thought. I thought about what had happened recently in my life. I decided that I was seriously regretting about three things. First, that I had said all those things to Eric when all I wanted was to go on a vacation. I mean, I had really gotten carried away. I opened my mouth and things just came out. It was like word vomit. Second, that I had let Bill drink from me. I really did owe him, but I think that he really does love me. I'm not sure if I love him or not. I definitely used to. Third, that I had told Eric that I loved him. It had made me feel a lot better about what I said but I don't think I should get into the habit of telling guys I love them so that they will stop being angry with me. That is what Bill tried to do. He kept telling me he loved me when I was angry with him in the hopes that I would take him back.

I got up to use the bathroom and I found yet another thing that I don't like about flying. When you flush the toilet it makes a really scary sound. I think I might have screamed because when I stepped out of the little room everyone was staring at me.

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked when I sat back down in my seat.

"Yeah," I said, "the toilet scared me is all." Amelia got a kick out of that. When she was done laughing I queued her in on my worries about being followed.

"If it makes you feel better the Villa has a spell on it to confuse anyone who comes near it. It makes you forget why you were coming." Amelia told me proudly. Amelia was pretty good witch if you ask me.

The flight was slow. I slept most of the time. There were movies and then food and sleep. I got up to move around a lot. I just didn't feel like sitting down for a long time. I was pretty sure that we had to be getting closer so I sat down and curled up and slept. I was kind of in that stage where you're half asleep and half awake. I was vaguely aware that Amelia had put my seat belt on me. The next thing I knew we were taxiing. Amelia started to unbuckle and grab her stuff. I followed suit and then we were getting off the plane and walking up the gate way. I started listening in to some minds as we entered the airport. It was really strange to hear thoughts in french. It was also kind of a relief. It wasn't complete silence, but at least it was less personal.

I saw a man dressed in a black suit holding a sign that read Miss Carmichael.

"Hello Miss Amelia." The man holding the sign said as we approached him.

"Hey Raul, this is Sookie Stackhouse the friend who I'm living with." Amelia motioned to me and then directed my attention to Raul. "Sookie this is Raul, he keeps the house."

"I'm the butler." He corrected.

"Yeah, yeah" Amelia rolled her eyes.

"Come on ladies," Raul turned to the baggage claim sign "lets go get your luggage and then I'll take you home."

Raul seemed really nice. It was weird inside his head though. Sometimes he would mix his French and English together. Raul didn't have an accented English so I assumed that he had probably learned French as a second language. He was medium height and very thin. Raul had dark slightly curly hair and green eyes. He was the first Frenchman that I'd ever met. Did I mention that so far I was really enjoying France?

Raul took us to a sleek black car with tinted windows. I was kind of unsure if he could lift our heavy luggage but some how he did, and then we were off. Raul navigated us out of the airport and into Paris.

It was beautiful. I could hardly keep up with everything that I wanted to see. It all looked old and soft and fragile, but somehow strong. It was spring and where there was grass it was a bright green. Trees were sprouting flowers and daffodils grew up from the ground. It was stunning.

"Ah," Amelia sighed "I've missed it here." Raul looked into the review mirror and smiled at her.

"Oui, et la France vous a manqué." Raul said. I hoped I could learn some French while I was here. It was such a romantic language.

Amelia let out a little "Ha" and then drifted off. I couldn't, I just didn't want to miss anything.

I tried to let the beautiful countryside sink in. I tried to let my brain soak in the image but it went by too fast. I could see hills and lavender and trees. We drove into the sunset.

Finally, Raul turned down a gravel pathway and soon we pulled up in front of a mansion. I think I was just too tired to keep my mouth shut when I stepped out of the car and saw it all looming in front of me. There were only two stories, but it was wide and the windows towered above me. There was a balcony in the front with two staircases on either side. They were made of some beautiful cream stone. I felt like I was walking into a dream.

"Old money." Raul told me as he took out our luggage. I shook Amelia awake so that she could explain to me why she had called it a villa when she should have called it a palace. The house wasn't falling into disrepair at all. In fact it was beautifully maintained. Amelia had told me before that no one stayed in it too often, but that was hard to believe. She climbed the stairs and went inside leaving me still staring.

"Come on Sookie," Raul took my elbow and led me away from my stupor "Let me show you your room." I tried not to expect too much but honestly I wouldn't have been surprised if I had been allotted a suite with its own bathroom and walk in closet and a sitting room.

I didn't get a sitting room. Instead I got a powder room. It was in between the bathroom and the bedroom, which was huge. I turned around to look at Raul.

"Is something wrong?" He asked. He looked concerned. Probably because my mouth still hadn't shut.

"Do you think you could show me the rest of the house?" I asked, "I'm pretty sure I'll get lost if I don't have an official tour."

"Sure, come on." Raul showed me around the whole place. Where Amelia's rooms were, where he slept, where the billiards room was, where the library was, and where the kitchen was. The kitchen was my favorite. I bet I could have cooked anything I could imagine in that kitchen. I decided that if I ever remodeled again I would try and replicate this kitchen.

"Hey," Raul motioned to some large glass doors "let me show you the grounds." He opened up the doors and a little of the fading sun sprang through to meet me. If I could ever see what Niall's world looked like I would think that it would look similar to Amelia's back yard.

Raul took me to smell all the flowers and showed me the pool and the hot tub. That sounded promising. It was green and lush all around. It seemed so vast. There was a sort of wild life that surrounded the definitions of the grounds.

"Raul," I started curiously "does anyone live near by?" He smiled a little.

"Actually some new people just bought the house a few acres away from here. They invited you and Amelia and I over tonight so that they could become better aquatinted with you two. I've already met them and I'm sure you'd like the two of them. As long as you're open minded." He added that last part a little cautiously.

"Well are they nice?" I asked. I was fairly sure that I was open-minded. I mean well, I can read minds.

"Yeah, definitely." Raul smiled. "We should probably get back and tell Amelia that we were invited. Then the two of you can get ready and we'll head over there." We went back inside and I stopped by Amelia's room on the way to mine.

"Hey," I pushed open her door to see her sitting on her bed "Raul said that we were invited to meet the neighbors so I think you'd better get ready." Amelia looked a lot less tired than the last time I saw her.

"Oh really?" she asked. Her eyes sparkled "I've never known anyone who lived over there."

"Where's over there exactly?" I asked.

"Oh its the house just a little more down the road. Its very much in the same style as this one but a little newer." I was pretty sure that meant that it was more expensive.

"Okay well I'll see you down stairs." I told her as I headed out to get changed and brush my teeth. I still had plane breath.

Amelia had put on a skirt and a blouse, same as me. Raul had on slacks and a button down shirt. I kind of liked this little fancy world.

"Should we walk?" Amelia asked.

"Walk?" I quipped, "I thought we would be horse back riding."

"You know," Raul said smiling "that's not a bad idea." Amelia grinned and ran out to the side of the house where I assumed there had been another four-car garage.

"You have got to be kidding me." I groaned when I saw that there were four horses in what turned out to be stables not a garage. Amelia and Raul started to saddle up their horses.

"I've never ridden before." I blurted out. Walking was sounding pretty good right about now.

"People who ride horses are stable people." Amelia told me as she mounted her pretty grey and white horse. Raul was getting a silky black one ready.

"Sookie you can ride with me for tonight, but tomorrow Amelia and I will have to give you lessons." Raul took my hand and his skin felt really rough. He held out the hand he had just grabbed to the horse. It liked my palm and I giggled.

"They love brown sugar." Raul told me and then threw a rag for me to wipe my hands off with.

"Hurry up you two!" Amelia called from out side. Raul took my waist and practically threw me up onto the horse. He was soon behind me and settled into the saddle. I wasn't sure if I should but one leg on each side and risk my skirt revealing too much or sit sidesaddle and risk falling off.

"Raul what do I do with my legs?" I asked. He laughed and then moved my left leg on the other side of the saddle.

"Just grip with your thighs." He told me and then we were off. Amelia followed us closely as we bolted from the stables and onto the road. Raul had enough sense not to go too fast. As it was I was on edge.

I knew what Raul had been talking about with the neighbors when we came up to the house. They were vampires.

"Raul why didn't you just say that the neighbors are vampires?" I asked as we got off the horses.

"Well, I wasn't sure how you'd react. Your not mad are you?" He looked from Amelia to me. I just shrugged.

"Well it would have been a nice change if they weren't but what ever." Amelia said and flounced up to knock on the door.