IV.

I was cold and I guess I was kind of in shock. I had no idea where I was, other than the fact that I was in a basement. I was afraid, rocking myself softly, as if to self-comfort. The door opened and Preston came down the stairs with a jacket and a blanket. I shrank back from him.

"I mean you no harm, Sookie. I had no choice here. They have my sister and they told me they would let her go if I helped them locate you."

I just stared at him. I was filled with anger and fear. The shock of seeing him in my house, the shock of the memory, which almost seemed like it had been somehow swept away in my mind, was frightening to me.

"Here, you should put the jacket on, so you won't be cold." He held it out to me, but I wouldn't take it.

Finally I said, "So you're fae. That was what was wrong. You were fae and trying to pretend to be a Were. That's why your thoughts felt so odd."

He drew the jacket back. "My thoughts? What about my thoughts?"

I reached out with my mind and felt the smooth, thick texture of his thoughts. It was hard to find a way into them. What I got from him were mostly feelings not clear thoughts. He felt bad, bad for me, bad about what he had done.

I walked away from him and leaned against the wall, back in the shadows. I shivered. I was only wearing my Merlotte's t-shirt and my slacks. I was still barefoot.

"You're cold. Take the jacket and let me get you something for your feet."

"Who are you? Who are you really? Who sent you to my house at Christmas?"

"My name really is Preston Pardloe. I'm really a fairy. I change shape easily." He held out a hand, which shifted into a paw something like a wolf's paw and then rapidly back again, as if to remind me.

"Who sent you to my house in December?" I repeated. Was it like a reconnaissance mission, I wondered. I still couldn't believe that I had taken him in, allowed him to stay, protected him, or so I thought, and that I had slept with him.

He stepped closer, reached out and picked up my hand, put the jacket in it and closed my fingers over it. Then he stepped back and looked me in the eyes.

"Niall Brigant sent me to you. I didn't know he was your grandfather. Or your great-grandfather or whatever it is. I didn't know until Dermot told me a short time ago."

"Niall? Why did he send you? Why?"

"He said that you were lonely. He meant it as a gift or some such thing. The intent was not bad. I mean you no harm. I meant you no harm then. I enjoyed you. I was sent to please you."

I thought back on all my reservations about taking him into my house, about how odd he seemed for a Were, about how his transformation seemed unnatural compared to that of every Were that I had ever seen. Every single step, after the moment I found him and got him to my porch, seemed to be against my better judgment. Inviting him in, on forward through the night. I kept trying to see what I was doing as unsafe and something redirected me time and time again. I couldn't fathom it. And then, when my grandfather showed up, after the man had disappeared on Christmas morning, it was as if the details all got blurred a bit, pushed aside, lost somehow in my mind. Until I saw him again in my room only a few short hours ago.

"You used magic," I gasped in understanding at last. "You used magic on me. It was all just magic…"

"A bit. A bit of glamour." He nodded, grimacing.

A bit? I said to myself. If that's 'a bit', I'm in serious trouble. How could I not be susceptible to vampire glamour and yet fall victim to some fae glamour? Was it so much more powerful? I had to try to be more alert to the slow sensation of anything overriding my thoughts, my judgment, my clarity. At least I had a sense of what it had felt like. Staying sharp and not getting glammed was going to be my only chance of getting away from them, I thought to myself. And the thought that he had been with me, sent to seduce me, at Niall's behest? I simply couldn't wrap my head around that one right now. I couldn't believe that my great-grandfather would have done such a thing. But something in his explanation had the ring of truth. I would deal with that later, when I was free of them all. My focus right now was that I had to get away, there had to be a way to get away.

"Where are we?"

"We're in Dermot's house."

"Where is Dermot's house? Are we still in the Shreveport area?"

"We're in Little Rock," he said softly, glancing back toward the door up into the house.

Arkansas!? "What does Dermot want from me? He's my great uncle. What could he possibly want from me? Does Niall know I'm here?"

Preston looked at me like he pitied me. "Sookie," he again glanced back up at the door, "Niall and Dermot don't get along. In fact, I guess you could say they work against one another."

"Then what does he want with me, Preston?"

"He is giving you to someone by the name of Dieter." He looked away as he said the name. I felt a chill run up my spine. "He is a rival of your grandfather's. I didn't know that was the plan, either."

I swallowed and tried not to gasp. "Giving me? What do you me by giving me? Can you help me get away? How can I get away?"

"I'm not sure. Look, I need to go back up. I… I'm sorry. I know that's inadequate to say, but I'm so sorry. I will try to help you. As soon as my sister is safe, I will try to help you however I can. I give you my word. I'll go to Niall and I'll help you." With that, he turned and went back up the stairs.

I put on the jacket and opened the blanket partly and sat on the floor with it over my feet. I tried to breathe and find something to be calm about but there was nothing, simply nothing that I could find hope in. I had been kidnapped by my great uncle. He was planning to give me to my great-grandfather's enemy. I was not even in Louisiana. No one knew I was missing. It was the middle of the day so no vampires were going to help. I truly felt panic. I had been in fights, I had been in dangerous situations, but never, really truly, on my own. I had always had Bill or Eric or Sam or Claudine, protecting me. And now, I was totally alone. I suddenly felt an appreciation for everything that Eric, Pam, Niall, Sam, Claudine and even Bill had tried to tell me. I was just a human. Very frail, mortal, breakable and short-lived. Just as my great-grandfather had told me months before. I really couldn't protect myself. I had been every bit as stupid and naïve as Pam had implied I was. But even they could not protect me from the Fae, I thought. Who could have prevented them from taking me out of my own house in broad daylight? It was so frightening to know that ultimately, I was so defenseless.

And what did this Dieter want with me? I was very afraid when I thought of how Preston had been afraid to look at me when saying the name. I had to find out more about this Dieter. The only one I had any hope of reading significantly was Dermot. His thought signature had given his presence away before I could even see him in my room. It must be because he is only half-Fae, I thought to myself. He is different from the others. I kept sensing him, there in the corner, even though he had managed to conceal himself. Him, I can probably read, I thought. I have to get to see more of him, to figure out how to deal with this, figure out how to get away.

I stared off into the darkness of the basement room and gave into thinking about the question that was really foremost in my mind. Could Eric find me when he wakes up? And to him, would I be worth getting into a fight with the Fae? Fighting with them could start a war. No matter how much Eric loved me, there were more things at stake than just protecting his human. The broader implications of such a choice were just too much for me. I broke down and started crying.