A/N: Whew-you guys farking rock! All the favorites, follows, reviews, etc were awesome. I actually am trying to respond to your reviews which is also fun. Sorry if I miss you or if you're signed in as guest, and I can't. Oh, and big ups to nukemlee for pointing out the name fuckery I did in the last chapter. I swapped Fintan's name for Preston's a couple times and she pointed it out for me. Thank you! That gets you an open-mouthed kiss from the Sheriff. I was mortified and had to change it immediately-while I was at work lol,ssshhhh...This is advancing fairly easily for me. As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States, I may not be able to get the chapters out so quickly. What with all the shameful face-stuffing and ridiculous Black Friday shopping. But I am totally addicted to this story, so I have a feeling, while I am trying to act all tough, like I own the story, in truth, it owns me. Mostly, I just want to get to the fuckhot Viking lol. So, let's cut this shit ao I can get back to the story. Thanks again for all your support. I own nothing, except for the stuff that's mine (clear as mud?). Enjoy, hookahs! *channels Lafayette

Chapter 2

Though the name initially ran an immediate chill down my spine, I shrugged it off. "Seriously? Eric?" I laughed, but it came out awkward. "I wasn't expecting something so...normal. I thought they had names like Count Vigo von Wilhelm and the like." I joked but no one laughed. Everyone was looking at me in some mixture of guilt, pity, fear. Clearing my throat, "So, this Eric. You said you respect him, yet you want me to torture him to get information from him?"

"I was kind of grasping at straws, my dear. Mostly meaning use any means necessary to find out all you can. There is no way you could overpower him Sookie." He held his hands up before I could get my ire up. "Now, now. Let's just be honest with what we are dealing with here. He is over one thousand years old. In his human life he was a warrior and he definitely has not softened over the millennium. Even I would be overpowered him, if I am very honest with myself. Though I do have magic on my side, so I could have a better chance of disabling him that way. I want to emphasize Sookie, do not put yourself so much at risk, that you may not come back to us. Council be damned! You may be used to procure information, but I will not allow you to die for it! In battle, amongst your family is one thing, but not alone, at the hands of any vampire, respected or not."

I had to smile at his slightly twisted logic. Gran and I had often gotten into debates over this way of thinking. She didn't like me being raised to fight, to defend our kind. It always irked her when I would regale her with my stories of sword and archery practice, sparring with Brittlingens and guards. And over the years, I had known, rather, been trained to know, that while we all were fairly safe at the Palace, that could change any time. And we had soldiers and friends go missing, or worse. They would be sent on a scouting mission or with a treaty to present Breandan in hopes for peace. They either never returned home, or a portion of them would be sent back as his sign of refusal. Once he returned a head on a pike back to Niall, with the treaty pinned into the eye. I cringed recalling that, as I had still been a child and had gone running into his office to show him how good I had gotten at my magic and found that pleasant scene. That had been my first and most resounding lesson of how cruel Breandan could be.

"I know your sword, dagger, archery and fighting skills are very good for your human blood, but vampire, especially this one are extremely strong. If it really came down to a physical face off, do not attempt it. Use your magic. It is strong for the amount of Fae and Brigant blood you have in you, Granddaughter, but outside this realm it will probably dampen greatly. I am hoping your ability to teleport, if nothing else, stays with you. At the first sign of true danger, I want you to come back here-immediately." Again, the twisted logic. They were sending me to the lion's den, but I wasn't supposed to be in too much danger.

To hide my annoyance, I changed the subject. "What is my back story-am I completely human? Do I have any ties to you? Am I a blonde bimbo? Or a naughty librarian? Do I accidentally spill coffee on him at a cafe, or do I write him a parking ticket?" I snarked. Hey, I had to find some kind of humor in this. Otherwise I might cry. My interest was slightly piqued at the thought of playing a role.

"I was thinking you should go to him as a human, with telepathy. But do not tell him you are such. Let him discover it, as if you did not want it to be common knowledge."

"How am I introducing myself to him? Do I bump into him or stalk him till I find an opportune moment to hit on him?"

"He owns a vampire-themed nightclub. I was thinking you could frequent it as a patron. Go often enough and see if you can interest him romantically." I snorted. "Or apply for a job, if they are hiring, which most establishments like that usually are."

Claude suddenly came alive. "That is definitely true! Bars and clubs are in a constant state of looking for good help." He was a partner in a strip club in the human realm. "Maybe you could apply as a bartender. I can show you how to make drinks in a matter of minutes. People always order the same twenty crappy drinks. When all else fails, slap a cherry on it or put some juice in it. Most people are too drunk to notice or too nice to say anything. Especially to a little hotty like you!" He winked at me. "Or you could apply as a dancer."

Ew, that would be a last resort. Everyone around here had zero sense of modesty about their bodies. I don't know if it was my human side making itself known, but I was a total prude compared to them. I didn't love the thought of being the type of dancer I knew he was referring to, unless I absolutely had to. File that thought away for later.

"What about my scent? I know I don't smell as strongly as you all do, but I know I have enough to tip them off, despite any amount of practice I have had selectively masking it, don't you think?" I was proud of all the hard efforts I took, practicing the limited amounts of magical/fae talents I had. The majority of my days was split between physical, mental and magic exercises. Not that there was much else I liked to do. I liked to stay busy.

"I have arranged a spell to place on you that will completely envelope and contain your scent."

"I hope I get to have a practice run to make sure." I muttered mostly to myself. "I do hope the spell won't mask all scent. I would expect them to be suspicious if I literally had no scent." One thing I learned about magic and spells-you had to be very specific and be careful what words you chose when weaving them. You got exactly what you asked for, which could often be dangerous.

He looked at me surprised and impressed that I had thought of that, which meant, he obviously had not.

"That is an excellent point. I will make sure to include it in the spell. Wonderful observation. Despite my anger and despair at having you in this position, I am proud of the job I know you will do."

Sit. Stay. Good dog. I fought my eye roll.

"Seriously, though. I would feel better about this, if I could pop back and forth between realms several times and see if the scent-masking spell worked. And also practiced my magic to see what I could use or not. Will that be a possibility?" Since I had lived in Faery, the only times I had been allowed into the human realm had been when I'd gone to visit my Gran. And Niall had usually done the teleporting, or was there when I did it. We would make occasional trips to her church or the local market. Walmart, they called it. I used to hate those trips. Initially I had been excited just to be allowed out and about and exposed to how the other half lived, but the constant bombardment to my mind had been awful! It literally made me sick the first few times. Once Niall learned of it, he actually made it an exercise for me, to practice shielding and filtering out thoughts. As I matured and my powers grew, I learned I could influence humans, using their own thoughts. For instance, if a man was thinking awful things about his wife, I could take the thoughts and morph them a bit into something more neutral or even positive. Or, I could do the opposite-turn positive or neutral thoughts into negative ones, which I didn't want to do, but Niall made me practice it, just for the sake of knowing I could use it if I had to. We kept that little bit from Gran. Her tender human sensibilities would never have tolerated that.

Great-Grandfather broke my reverie. "Of course, Sookie. I would expect no less."

"Okay, how much time do I have to prepare? When is this all going down?"

"As soon as possible, unfortunately. As I stated, Northman and Breandan have met three times now. If something is coming, it could be any time now and we need to know. Plus, I imagine it will take at least a few days to implant yourself into his life in one way or another."

Was he kidding? "A few days?! I would think it might take weeks or months! I can't just waltz in there, say 'Hi, my name is Sookie' and become his right hand man or his confidant." I had a horrible, sinking feeling suddenly. "Unless-I don't have to become his" gulp "woman or anything, do I?"

I felt the sting of tears and fought them for all I was worth. I could do a lot of things: I would fight him, spy on him, stake him but I would not be anyone's whore for hire. If that was expected, I would walk away right now, leave here for the human realm and take my chances with whatever came at me. It wasn't that I was saving my...womanhood for anyone special, per se. But I sure as hell wasn't going to give it up to some Vamp for the sake of fairy intel.

There were so many things that would complicate my life if I had sex with anyone here. So I chose not to. First of all, fairy men were so vain, it was very hard to feel special when you were around them. They constantly talked and thought only about themselves. Made me wonder if any fairy women ever got the chance to orgasm. Second, I was constantly training-14 hours a day-using my brain and body and magic. It was very taxing, which left little time or energy for courtship. Third was the biggest. Fairy males were VERY fertile. The last thing I needed was to bring another fairy-mix like myself into this unstable, hybrid hostile world of ours. Though I knew if I surrounded myself only with family, my child and I would be loved, I didn't want to even risk it, until Breandan and his band of merry haters were gone. Period.

My grandfather was staring at me, with a slight smile on his face. "Sorry, what did I miss? How could me loaning my lady bits out for hire to a vampire be smile-worthy?"

"Child, you still don't get it do you? You are beautiful, smart, albeit more often a smart alec, and funny. And you're a Brigant." Oh, that's right, in case I forgot. "You do not see why a man, of any species would be attracted to you with very little effort on your part?" That made me blush. He continued, "I would be willing to guarantee, all you need to do is be near him, possibly engage him in brief conversation, and you will have him panting at your heels. There will be no need to loan him your" disapproving look "lady bits."

Now my face must have been the color of a tomato. All three of my beloved cousins were snickering at me. They loved it when I "got all human" on them.

"However you proceed from there, will be up to you. But getting his attention will not be a problem."

Which slapped me with another alarming thought. "What if he has my blood? Won't he be able to taste my fae lineage at that point?"

"That will be a challenge for you. He must never taste you. He will know immediately, as my spell to mask you cannot extend to your blood. And if he did, there would also be a huge possibility he would drain you. Even if he didn't mean to." How nonjudgmental of of him.

"But couldn't he just glamour me into giving him my blood, even if I denied him? I know they can't glamour full fairies, but I am part human, in case anyone here forgot."

Celighn spoke up. "Sookie, I had a distant aunt that was part human. During the last Fairy Vampire war, she was captured. They raped her and used her for their personal blood fountain." Gulp-that was making me feel all warm and fuzzy. "When her brothers and father finally found her, she was barely alive. But she did recover and said they had tried to glamour her repeatedly for information, but never could. She wished they had been able to. Then she might not remember what happened to her." The last part was in a small, sad voice very unusual for my feisty cousin. And it set my resolve. This had to be done. I wouldn't subject any of my people to any more atrocities like the ones she just described. The Water Fae might not use anyone as a blood fountain, but they would damn well torture them in evil and treacherous ways. They were known for it.

"But how do we know because the glamour didn't work on her, it would be the same for me? I would still like to be sure it won't work before I go in. That seems like their most powerful weapon. If I become physically threatened I could hopefully pop out of there, or worst-case scenario fight or use magic to have a chance. But if they can glamour me, I would have no chance. Any suggestions?"

Claudine finally piped up."Why don't we go to Claude's club? There's always vamps skulking around outside, waiting for an easy drunk dinner." She scrunched her nose up in distaste. "Of course, they're not allowed inside. We keep them outside, like pets." They all giggled at that.

I tapped my finger on my lips, thinking. "That could work, because you guys would be there, just in case. I could pretend to be a patron in the parking lot and see if one tries to bite me. Then I could just teleport back into the club. They would just assume I was fae and worked at the club. I would be sure to wear a wig and heavy makeup, just in case it was someone this Northman knew, we might run into later." I was still running a thousand different details through my mind, to get prepared as quickly as possible, and shared all of it aloud. I went on that way for several moments before I noticed everyone was staring at me.

"What?"

"Granddaughter, I have underestimated you. You are quite the strategist. As much as I dread this task, I think you are well suited to it." The look on the Three C's (my nickname for them)faces mirrored his words.

I felt a flush of pride that they all thought so.

"Alright, then." I stood up. "Let's get started tonight."