Disclaimer: The Sookie Stackhouse Series is the creation of Charlaine Harris. Don't sue me Charlaine! I love your books.

Understanding

VIII.

The idea of a non-vampire ruling on vampire related issues was extremely unpopular. Pythia knew it would be but she was looking for a way to move forward in the perception of justice and integration of vampires into the larger world. Vampires could decide matters between themselves, but there were a growing number of disputes between vampires and other supernatural groups and vampires and humans. Matters between different supernatural groups had become increasingly contentious since the Were revelation. With Weres out in the general world at last, their treatment as second class citizens by vampires was a point of increasing divisiveness. My odd position, as a special breed of human, and as friend to various weres and Were packs, along with my ties to the Fae and marriage to a vampire, had made her determined to put me in a position of power resolving issues between vampires and other groups. While I hoped for something more along the lines of mediation, Pythia was looking for a strong arm, to build actual jurisprudence. She told me in that she said she believed I had a fine moral sense and would not be swayed by power. That I was in a unique position because of my many ties to various groups. She also felt I was someone powerful enough to guarantee adherence to a new code that would satisfy both vampire law and written law of the land.

Before I went into the room that would serve as my court, I grasped the deep orange fire opal pendant hanging around my neck. Eithne's gift, a reminder of the fire of Brigid. On the longer chain below it, I felt my wedding ring, which had never left me, even in my darkest times. I took a deep breath, touching the opal again. There would be no going back from this point, I knew. My life would change forever.

I am with you, child. Eithne's voice stilled my qualms.

I walked in and sat down on what could only be described as a throne. All present had risen except for a vampire who looked at me in a positively surly fashion. I regarded him with a cold stare.

Pythia's personal judicial attorney, a half-demon by the name of Mr. Nikolaidis, called the first case, involving a dispute between a vampire who had repeatedly assaulted the younger non-supe sibling of a Were. The Were, a relatively young man by the name of John Tennant, had brought the matter before the Court when the vampire, Christopher Scully of St. Louis, had failed to respond his maker's evidently tepid request to desist.

Scully it turned out, was the surly vampire. He rose to his feet and claimed I had no jurisdiction over him and that he didn't care what the Pythoness said about it. My color, in the form of all my Tuatha Dé markings, rose high. I promptly slammed him up into the wall behind me and pinned him there without moving from my seat or even batting an eyelash.

"We will leave Mr. Scully for last," I informed Mr. Nikolaidis. "My apologies to Mr. Tennant and his family for the slight delay."

Scully began shouting obscenities and insults behind me. Without turning, I said in a loud clear voice,

"Mr. Scully, if you do not shut your mouth, I will shut it for you and you will find yourself feeding through a straw for the next year. I strongly suggest that you be quiet." To punctuate the point I blasted him with a ring of violet flame that surrounded him, after first scorching him. The smell of burning hair filled the room.

The reaction from the audience was rather dramatic. There were gasps and loud murmurings. Mr. Nikolaidis was forced to call for quiet. Over the next hour and a half I kept Christopher Scully pinned to the wall behind me like a butterfly, while listening to cases of contract violation, theft, and property damage. More and more people began to enter the room, the rumors of the spectacle of a vampire pinned to a wall by that Stackhouse woman evidently luring them in. Felipe, with a small entourage, was the first King in the room. He displaced a row near the front and watched with genuine interest. (He had always promoted better intersupernatural and human relations. This Court seemed right in line with his thoughts.) There was finally only tight standing room. Bill stood, leaning against the wall off to my right, looking at me with rapt fascination. He had appeared to be text messaging rapidly on his cellphone at one point. Scully remained pinned in the circle of violet flame but every once in a while he would start to struggle and curse. I would then just slam him even harder into the wall. There was now a tracework of cracks in the cement. His most recent contact with the wall had evidently been audible well outside the room it seemed, as several people opened the door to peer inside. Victor, Pam and Eric had squeezed into the room and stared open mouthed.

At last I was ready to hear Mr. Tennant's complaint.

"Mr. Scully, are you prepared to be civil?" I asked firmly, without turning around.

I heard a slightly muffled snarl.

I dropped him the 15 feet to the floor without warning and then threw him back out into the room in front of me. He knocked over his empty chair as he rolled. He pulled himself to his feet. He was marked by soot from my flames. His hair was badly singed. I could see in my mind's eye that the entire wall behind me would need to be repaired. Most unfortunate.

I listened as Tennant described the brief attempt at seduction and then three sexualized blood lust assaults on his sister. She was too traumatized to appear in person but there were many signed witness affidavits and statements of those treating her. It was then pointed out by Mr. Nikolaidis that the young woman was all of 17 years of age and that this was the third time that Scully had been accused of involvement with a human under the age of majority.

I looked at Scully. "Do you have any defense?"

He snarled at me that he did not know she was only 17.

"And what was your reason for continuing your pursuit of her when she refused you?"

"She was a cocktease. She deserved it. What was she doing frequenting vampire bars with a fake ID if she didn't want it?"

I looked soberly at Mr. Nikolaidis. "Do you have the name of Mr. Scully's sire noted there?" I asked, biting my lower lip as I turned to him.

Mr. Tennant rose to object, since of course he'd been dissatisfied with that route already. I put up my hand to silence him.

Mr. Nikolaidis nodded solemnly to me.

"We will need to send her a note of our disappointment over her poor judgment about whom to grant the gift of relative immortality. She needs to be reminded of the importance of being selective. She will also be required to pay for the young woman's therapy to deal with the trauma, since as a sire she has failed to control her child adequately."

With that, I turned to Scully, and said "Mr. Scully, you are found guilty of violating multiple laws put in place by your betters for the purpose of securing the welfare of your fellow vampires in the modern world. Your actions endangered those of your kind who wish to live in the world as trusted equals, abiding by its laws. You will not have the chance to act so again." I pointed my hand in his direction, and spoke Word, reducing him to a pile of hot, glowing ash. I hoped I hadn't damaged the carpet after what I'd done to the wall.

John Tennant's jaw dropped and he looked from the ash that was Christopher Scully to me with a look of unbridled awe. There was stunned silence in the room.

I sighed. Not a pleasant business. "This Court warns that the entire Tennant family will be off limits for any retaliatory actions, on pain of meeting the same fate as Mr. Scully. But under rather less pleasant circumstances."

I rose and, promptly and respectfully, so did every single person who had been seated. I left a room filled with still stunned and silent spectators.

I walked with my two demon guards toward the elevators. I was exhausted. It was 4 am. I was thirsty and hungry and craving the taste of Eithne's homemade bread with fresh butter.