Chapter 13

I woke up to sound of birds chirping outside. I yawned as I sat up to stretch. My arm brushed up against my hair and I felt something warm and sticky. I made my way upstairs to the bathroom quietly, as to not wake Sookie, to look in the mirror.

My hair was matted with blood from last night, but other than that I looked… almost radiant. My skin was glowing and my under eye circles had vanished. Gingerly, I raised my hand to the back of my head where my pain had been last night, expecting to feel a huge gash. But nothing was there, and besides the blood, any evidence of my accident was gone.

I hopped in the shower and watched the blood swirl down the drain. When I finished washing and the water ran clear, I dried off and changed into new clothes. I realized I had been wearing the same outfit since we went out with Jessica, and that was two days ago. I put on a baseball tee and black stretchy shorts that I knew would be comfy for traveling and braided my dark hair back.

I left the bathroom and jumped when Sookie turned a corner.

"Oh god," I gasped. "Oh, Sookie, you scared me."

"Sorry hun," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. I'm all healed… did Eric's blood do this?"

She looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, vampire blood has healing powers. Listen," she said, quickly changing the subject, "Tara stopped by. She needs a place to stay. She's gonna stay here while we're away."

I nodded in understanding. "What time do we leave today?"

"Our flight's at 4:45, but we have to leave in two hours," she explained.

"I better start packing then," I said.

A car picked us up at the house and took us to the airport. Bill and Jessica, who was coming with us now, were in airtight travel coffins sleeping. It was still daytime and they wouldn't wake up until we landed in Dallas. Once we were on board, I decided it was a good time to ask Sookie the questions nagging at me.

"Hey, Sook?" I asked and she raised her eyes off the magazine she was reading to look at me. "I've been wondering… Am I like gonna become a vampire now that I've got Eric's blood in me?"

She burst out laughing. "No, it doesn't work like that."

"Well, all I know is I was an inch from death last night and today I'm good as new. I know how people get high off V, but why have I never heard of these healing powers? Why aren't hospitals using this stuff, do you know how many people it would save?"

"Do you know how many vampires would die in return?" she retorted. "Not a lot of people know about it cause they would go hunting vampires, and there would be a lot of death, both human and vampire, if that ever happened."

"Yeah, I guess," I said. "But what else don't I know about it?"

Sookie got real awkward all of a sudden. She fiddled her thumbs nervously. "Um, it heightens your senses and you'll be a lot stronger for a couple days."

"Oh," I said thoughtfully. I glanced at her for a second, and for some reason, I had the feeling she was keeping something from me. I let it slide, though, because clearly she didn't want to talk anymore, as she had turned away and buried her nose back into her magazine, chugging down one of those travel sized champagnes they give out on planes.

The flight landed a while later, and Sookie and I got up to leave.

"Anubis Airlines welcomes you to Dallas, the most vampire-friendly destination in the great state of Texas," a woman's voice announced over the loud speaker. As we exited, we noticed the car that was sent for us and the chauffeur holding a sign that read, "Compton Party".

"Yoo-hoo!" Sookie called to the man, who smiled curtly and waved. She hopped down the steps giddily, and I realized she was a little tipsy. "That's us!" As we approached him, she held out her booze she had taken along with her and gave him a huge grin. "I've always loved these. They're like booze for dolls."

"They gave her ten," I laughed as I explained my friend's behavior.

"You're two hours late, you were supposed to be here before sundown," the man said nervously. His bald head glistened with sweat. He looked over my shoulder and I followed his gaze to see Bill and Jessica, still inside their coffins, being unloaded. It was dark now; it was only a matter of time before they woke up.

"We decided to catch a later flight," Sookie explained, drawing our attention back to the conversation at hand. "Didn't someone tell you?"

"Okay, well, why don't you go wait in the limo," he offered. "I got the A.C. cranked up."

"No, thanks. We're fine," I said. I wanted to wait for Bill so I didn't have to take care of a buzzed Sookie all by myself.

"Oh, go on. Uh, there's Cokes in there," the chauffeur insisted, his eyes averting to the coffins once again. I started to get a bad feeling about this, and my intuition was telling me something was wrong. I thought Sookie might have caught on, too, because she was focusing in on him like she was searching through his thoughts.

Before either of us had time to react, the man grabbed me roughly.

The man threw an unconscious Sookie through a chain-link gate and she fell harshly to the floor. Another man, this one tall and bulky, pushed me in after her as I fought against him. I clutched onto his blue "L.O.D.I." sweater in an effort to avoid falling to the floor, but he pried my fingers off of him and shoved me to the ground. I scrambled to get to my feet, but the gate was shut and locked before I could reach it.

"Is that all?" the chauffeur asked.

"Yes, you've done a great job getting them here," the tall man said. "Now, like we discussed, there will be no talk of this, right?" The chauffeur nodded and the man in the blue sweater patted him on the back. "Great. Much appreciated. Now, listen, we don't want this little incident to affect your views of our church. We are really a kind hearted, close knit family here that's sole objective is to walk in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You should consider joining us, you'd fit in well here."

"Get your hands off me!" I yelled as the chauffeur yanked me towards the car. I stomped hard on his foot and kneed him in the groin, something I had learned in a self-defense class I took back in Alaska. He doubled over in pain and released me, but made a grab for Sookie, who screeched.

Before I could blink, Bill was beside Sookie in a flash, his hands around our attacker's throat.

"Make a noise and it will be your last," he said as his fangs descended.

There was a loud clatter behind us, and I turned to see Jessica's travel coffin thrashing around on the floor.

"Hey!" she yelled in a panicked voice. "How the hell does this thing open? Somebody help get me out of here. Help!"

Author's Note: Sorry for the short, boring chapter. This is really just a filler chapter I had to write to fill in the gaps between the more interesting plot lines. I promise better chapters to come.