Chapter 2

Sookie's POV

As Sookie's mind swims back toward consciousness, her eyes flutter open briefly before instantly slamming back closed. She blinks rapidly in an attempt to acclimate her eyes to the blinding brightness. Slowly shapes begin to form and and she realizes she's in a hospital room.

"Hello?" her voice echoes in the otherwise silent hospital. Now curious she rises from the bed gingerly, checking herself over for injuries. Nothing hurts, in fact she'd wager to say she never felt better. "So why am I in the hospital" she ponders trying to remember what happened. Images flash of Bill biting her viciously, of him pinning her to the dirty floor of Alcide's truck. . . she shudders violently, banishing the thoughts back into the recesses of her mind. "Merciful Jesus, am I dead?" She realizes this thought doesn't bother her as much as it should. It seems peaceful where she is; calm. She scans with her "other" hearing, and can sense no one else nearby. "Maybe this is some kind of in between? But what do I do to get to the otherside?" Deciding that staying where she is won't answer her questions, she wanders out into what appears to be an empty hospital. She stops just outside the room debating on which way to turn when she hears a woman's soft voice calling her name. It's not a voice she recognizes, but she heads in the direction she believes it is coming from anyway. She made a few wrong turns here and there, but all she had to do was double back to where she could again here the cajoling voice. At the end of a particularly long hallway she sees a large set of double doors, from which the sound seems to be emanating from. She pauses, after searching for so long, now she is unsure whether she is ready to continue. But thinking of what lies behind her, the pain and betrayal she has suffered from someone she loved, has her hand moving to the doors heavy handle. "Better to move forward." She tells herself swinging the doors open wide, revealing a bright and sunny meadow, with a shimmering pond in the center. A woman with long brown hair and a kind smile is waiting just off to the side. She stretches out her arm invitingly to Sookie.

"Come and play in the light." Sookie begins to move forward when a gentle hand on her shoulder stops her.

"No Miss Stackhouse it's a trick, she wishes to trap you here." This is a voice she knows but. . . she turns to see someone she never thought to ever see again.

"Godric?"

"This isn't any concern of yours abomination!" The once melodious voice has turned rough and feral and Sookie recoils as she sees that the once beautiful woman has somehow morphed into a truly menacing creature. Godric grabs her hand and they run, winding through the empty hospital corridors, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. A shout can be heard from behind them, but Sookie doesn't hear any other indication that they are being pursued. Godric stops in front of a different set of doors momentarily, tilting his head as though listening before easing them both inside. Sookie's eyes widen as she sees that they are now standing in a rolling, vibrant green countryside with only a scattering of ancient stones dotting the pristine expanse, and a deep blue-green ocean can be seen in the distance breaking against a rocky shoreline.

"Where are we?" Sookie says breathlessly.

"This is my homeland."

"You mean where you grew up?" Sookie asked genuinely curious about the 2000 year old vampire's human life.

"Yes, when I was a small child our village was here, this area used to be known as Gaul until it was conquered by the Romans."

"How did we get here? Is this real?"

I suppose it is real in a manner of speaking." Sookie crossed her arms and gave him a confused glare. Godric chuckled lightly before continuing. "You see, when I disappeared from the rooftop I somehow ended up here. I believed it to be my heaven, until one day I heard a voice. I followed it until I found this door, and on the other side an empty apartment building. Well, I thought it to be empty at first, but after some poking around I discovered a man named Barry. He asked if I had been the one calling to him. Of course it wasn't, so together we waited. After a few minutes passed I could hear someone saying his name from what sounded like quite a distance away. We followed the voice until we came to doors much like the ones you found today. I cautioned Barry, but he did not heed me. The doors opened and he was taken, I was not permitted to follow him. However, through the still open doors I saw them change the way that woman changed earlier." Sookie squeezed her eyes closed and tapped her fingers on her lips.

"You said the man you met was named Barry? Can you explain what he looked like to me?" If Godric found this an odd request he didn't say so.

"He was tall around six feet I'd say, short brown hair and hazel eyes, thin maybe 150 to 170 pounds."

"That sounds exactly like a bellboy named Barry I met when we were in Dallas. The thing is he's a telepath too, the only other telepath I've ever met. That has to be more than a coincidence, right?" Godric nodded slowly.

"Yes, I would definitely say so. When I saw what lay under the pretty facade' I realized what the creatures were. Fairies." Godric continued undaunted at Sookie's derisive snort. "I had long thought them to have died out. You see there were wars between my kind and theirs, lasting for decades, and their numbers were decimated. At least that is what they lead us to believe. From what I've recently seen I think that they were really moving themselves into little pockets of another realm. Now they are gathering those that share their blood, and trapping them here, though I do not know why. Barry has not been the only one either, there have been at least seven or eight others since. Today when I heard the calling of your name, it being so unique, I knew it must be you Miss Stackhouse. After your kindness to me in what should have been my last moments I could not allow you to be imprisoned by them as well." All questions about Godric's human life disappeared as Sookie's mind boggled at the amount of information he had given her in such a short amount of time.

"But Godric if you're right and they're gathering humans with fairy blood, what do they want with me? I can tell you nearly five generations of my family and I can say with some certainty that none of them were supernatural creatures." Godric looked at her sceptically.

"Miss Stackhouse. ."

"For goodness sake Godric, please call me Sookie. After all the crap we've been in together I think it's only right." A small smile danced at the corners of Godric's mouth.

"Indeed, but as I was trying to say you have to know that vampires think you smell particularly enticing correct?" Sookie nodded. How could she deny it, one had practically drained her only a short while ago. "Vampires find fairy blood irresistible, but I believe since you are not full fae this effect is muted. And your gift, you of course know that it is a rare one?" Again Sookie simply nodded. She didn't like how he was talking to her like a child, but she guessed compared to him she kind of was. "Have you ever done anything else that you couldn't explain?" Thoughts of the chain tightening around Mac Rattray's neck, and shooting Maryann with light from her hands came to mind. Instead of saying these things aloud she nodded once again though this time it might have been a little petulantly. Godric's eyes were filled with laughter at her antics.

"I do not mean to offend you Sookie, I just wonder how the idea of there being something supernatural in your blood has never occurred to you. If it were me I would be thankful for the understanding of where my abilities came from, but you fight against it so harshly. Why is that?"

"All my life, every second I can remember, I just wanted to be normal." Sookie gave him a bitter smile. "Hell even my own Momma was afraid of me. And now you want me to accept that I'm not even human. I'm sorry Godric, but that's a jagged pill to swallow for me."

"I apologize, I was not aware that you harbored these feelings. I have come to realize, very recently, that it does no good to hate yourself for what you are. We are all born under God, and all serve his purpose. I dare say it should not matter what we are, but rather who we are. When you pleaded with me to reconsider meeting the sun, your tears haunted me. How could anyone so good- so full of light, weep for something so evil- so full of darkness? In your genuine concern for someone you didn't know, I saw that there was still hope for the world. And you wish to be normal? You, Sookie, could never be called something as mundane as normal." Sookie smiled through her tears, a truly bright and beaming smile. Godric's words were beautiful, and though she didn't know if she believed them herself, she was glad that he had finally begun to move past his self hatred.

"Thank you Godric, you'll never know how your words have touched me. You know there is goodness in you too right?" Godric lowered his head bashfully, which only endeared her further to the the ancient boy. "Ya know, I thought I was dead too. . ." Her voice was filled with disappointment when the words tumbled out of her mouth without her meaning them to. Godric's mouth pursed into a thin line. He raised his eyebrow inquisitively. "When I first got here, I was in a hospital, and then I remembered what had happened to me. I thought I was somewhere between life and death, I thought that fairy was calling me to Heaven."

"Why is there such sadness when you say this? It was only a short while ago that you were championing living fiercely, what has happened to steal that vivacity from you?"

"Where the heck do I even start?" She shrugged her shoulders slightly, while shaking her head sadly. "It seems like ever since I met my first vampire, there's just been one threat to my life after another. But at the same time, I had found a man, er. . vampire that I loved more than I ever imagined I could. With my curse" she vaguely motioned to her head "I had accepted that I would probably wind up alone. I was so blindly happy," she paused gathering her thoughts "and then about two weeks ago, he asked me to marry him." A single tear spilled over, trekking its way down her cheek. Godric's cold fingers brushed it away, before placing his hand on her back, rubbing gently. He tilted his head to the side slightly,

"You did not wish to marry him?" he said frowning.

"No, I mean yes, but I was just so overwhelmed. I went to the bathroom, I needed a minute to think, everything was happening way too fast, ya know? But when I came back out he was gone."

"He left you?"

"He was kidnapped! Eric helped me to track him down in Mississippi, and I was already there when he finally decided to call. He told me to stop looking for him, that he didn't want to be found. He said he was with his maker. . and. . and" She could see the disgust written all over Godric's face so she knew he understood what she could not admit aloud, and more tears escaped. "I was so stupid, he told me he didn't love me. I should have went back home, but I so was stubborn, I didn't believe him. Why didn't I see it coming?" She looked at Godric questioningly.

"But how could you? Vampires are not human, we do not feel and think as you do. You did not fully understand this, it is not your fault. You know better now, and will not make the same mistakes again." If only that was all, just a life lesson, Sookie lamented. He must have seen something in her expression because he tilted up her chin, studying her face carefully. "He was more than just unfaithful, though. ." Sookie swallowed audibly, would admitting that the rest had actually happened finally break her completely?

"The King of Mississippi somehow found out about me and my telepathy, and he came to where I was staying and kidnapped me as well. He showed me this file that he said Bill had of me and my family, and kept asking me what I was. Maybe he thought I was a fairy too, I don't know, he didn't say."

She rambled as the thought occurred to her. "He made me realize just how much I didn't know about vampires. How much Bill had kept from me. I told him everything, all the weird stuff about me." Sookie wailed plaintively. "I hoped that if I told him the truth he might change his mind and stop Lorena from killing Bill. He didn't. He locked me in a room, but with the help of my friend Tara we escaped. Even after everything up to that point I couldn't leave Bill behind. It's all kind of a blur, but I somehow managed to stake Lorena and rescued Bill. We were free, on our way back home. . . but Bill was so weak. I wasn't sure he would make it. I gave him my blood. . ." She had been crying throughout, but at this she finally broke down sobbing uncontrollably. Her legs would no longer hold her weight and she sank gracelessly to her knees. Godric followed her down and pulled her into his arms, trying in vain to console her. They stayed that way as the pain and shame poured out of her, leaving her a hollow empty shell of the woman she used to be. "The man I loved. . he. .he. ." she choked around the remaining words, she tried to fight against the block in her throat, but the words simply wouldn't come. Tears obscured Sookie's vision, but she brought her eyes up to meet Godric's ancient ones anyway, never before having felt so broken. He pulled her more tightly to his chest, his face pressing into her shoulder as he murmured.

"To have happened to one so full of goodness, I'm sorry Sookie. I would not have wished this horror for you." His embrace was filled with so much kindness, but there was understanding there as well. They lay down in the grass looking up into the beautiful azure sky, two battered souls, finding comfort in knowing that they were not alone in their pain.