Chapter 7

He had heard her car on the pavement long before she actually turned into the long, graveled drive off Hummingbird Road. He'd set himself by the old mailbox to wait for her, after assuring himself, with a quick reconnoiter of the house, that she had not already arrived. His intention had been to catch her a little farther away from it, the only variable being that he had not known her work and social schedule in advance. Fortunately, his wait had been short, and as she slowed her car, he stood, making himself look as non-threatening as possible; dropping his shoulders, tucking his hands into his jean pockets, relaxing his jaw and curling up one side of his mouth into a smile that he hoped looked innocent. As he had expected, she stopped her faded hatchback, and rolled down her window to inquire about him. The scent of her otherness surrounded him and he fought the euphoria it brought with it.

"Hello?" She seemed hesitant, but that was to be expected, she was probably still a little nervous about driving alone in the dark, what with the Vampires out and about now. Finding a stranger by her mailbox was certainly not the norm in Bon Temps.

"Good Evening Miss. Thank you for stopping." He greeted her politely.

"Can I help you?" She was wary but not overly so just then.

"Are you the owner of this property here?"

She hesitated. He smiled even more broadly.

"Yes." Her voice lifted up, questioning him even with an answer.

"I was hoping, if it isn't an imposition, that you might be able to see your way into letting me hunt in your woods this evening?"

"Hunt? At night?" Her brows knitted together a bit.

"I promise Miss, just some small game, a rabbit or two, perhaps a fox?"

"You aren't from around here, I don't recognize you."

"I'm not Miss, just passing through, though I suppose I don't really know where my destination is just at the moment."

"Why didn't you just go into town, I'm sure you could have stopped by one of the churches and found a decent dinner, probably even a bed for the night?"

"I don't think they have what I need to eat Miss." He curled his shoulders up around his ears a little, a gesture he had practiced in front of the mirror, designed to make himself look meek.

"What is it you eat?"

"I need blood Miss." He kept his voice very quiet, working on the shy, lost persona that he hoped would intrigue the girl.

"Blood?" She pulled back for a moment.

"I'd buy the bottled stuff Miss, I just don't have any money."

"Blood?" She repeated, her voice just a little more incredulous.

"I'm a Vampire Miss." Her reaction then was not at all what he'd expected. She began to laugh.

"You're a Vampire? Really? Now I know this is a joke, did my brother put you up to this? Is this why he didn't come out to Merlotte's tonight to drive me home?" She hitched herself partway through the window and yelled out. "Jason! I know you're out there, I'm on to you!" The movement of her body, and its new proximity was enchanting. He needed to pause for a moment to refocus.

"Truly Miss, I am a Vampire."

"Oh yeah, what, you from the high school here? Come on Jason! Enough is enough!" She hollered.

"Miss?" He tried again to get her attention, and redirect it to himself.

She looked right at him, shaking her head, and staring at him very intently, (which Andre found a little unnerving). That was until he smiled very wide, and dropped his fangs, and then she was quite quiet, dropping back into the driver's seat with a hard thud.

"Oh Hell." She whispered, and seemed to freeze in her seat.

"I promise I won't hurt you Miss."

"What do you want?" Her eyes were as wide as his just then, but not by design. Andre recognized the momentary panic and fear, and normally it was something he relished seeing, but not just then.

"I just wanted to ask your permission to hunt in your woods Miss, and perhaps to go to ground there for the day?" He kept his mind solidly on the script he had practiced.

"Go to what?" He could hear the short breaths that were rising in her throat as she spoke. He tried to make his answers as benign as possible.

"I need a safe place to sleep during the day, I hoped to find one in your woods."

"Why are you even asking me about it?"

"Because it's the polite thing to do, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose so." That answer had seemed to disarm her, she had obviously been expecting that Vampires would be brash and rude, and Andre knew that a great many (just like breathers) definitely were.

"I promise that I won't come near the house, and I won't harm you or your family."

"You're really a Vampire, those aren't fake?" Those smooth brows wrinkled again as she continued to stare at him.

"Really a Vampire Miss. Sorry to have startled you. Perhaps I should just move on?" Andre reached down to pick up the duffle bag he'd left at his feet and made to sling it over his left shoulder. He really had no intention of leaving, and would have given her a little nudge with his glamour had it been required, but he truly wanted to do this without that power, just to prove his skill to himself.

"No, it's okay. Sorry, I just never expected to see a Vampire in Bon Temps. I guess it's alright if you need to camp out for the night." Her facial features finally began to soften.

"That's very generous of you Miss. I do appreciate it. I won't be any trouble."

"We do have a cat that wanders around though, I'd be very upset if anything happened to her you understand."

"Yes Miss, no cats, I promise. I'll even see if I can gather up some firewood from the deadfall for you if you like? To pay for my keep? I can leave it by the driveway."

"It'd be easier if you brought it up by the porch, then I wouldn't have to haul it so far."

"By the porch then Miss." Andre skillfully kept a lid on the glee that was welling up in his chest. With only a minor stumble, things were proceeding just as well as he had envisioned they would.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Andre."

"Well, um, good to meet you Andre, I'm Sookie."

"It is my honor to make your acquaintance Miss Sookie." And he bowed just slightly to her, which elicited another giggle.

"Well, you have yourself a good night then Andre." She made to put the car back into drive and continue to the house.

"And you as well Miss."

The first step in his plan was complete. He watched her pull away from him, knowing her eyes were flitting between the view in her rearview, and the house that lay before her. He waved casually and made as if he was heading towards the tree line, reaching it and disappearing within before she was out of the car. He could still see her, but knew that she couldn't see him from her vantage point on the porch, despite her obvious attempts to do so. He was completely still until she finally went into the house. And then he moved in closer, to listen in on what she had to say to the other occupant.

"Hi Gran." He heard the soft thud of a bag being dropped on a counter; her purse most likely. "You'll never believe,"

"Where's Jason?" The voice of an older woman interrupted Sookie's sentence.

"I don't know, he didn't show up."

"What? He was supposed to come follow you home, and make sure you were safe." That voice sounded quite annoyed by Andre's reckoning.

"I made it fine Gran, and you won't believe what happened."

As Andre listened, Sookie's enthusiasm was again cut off by the other woman.

"I'm going to call him right now and find out what happened."

"Gran. It's okay."

"It most certainly is not Sookie. What if you'd run into one of those Vampires?"

"But I did Gran, that's just it."

The sound of a bakelite telephone receiver hitting a linoleum floor gave Andre a mental picture of what was going on in the house.

"You met a Vampire Sookie?" This Grandmother's attention had finally been garnered.

"I did, he's actually out in the woods right now."

"Oh goodness Sookie." Andre could picture a withered hand covering a likewise wrinkled mouth.

"It's okay Gran, he was nice, and polite, asked if he could catch a rabbit or two for his dinner."

"Oh Sookie, I don't know if I like this."

"Well where else was he supposed to go? At least he asked permission? That says something about his character doesn't it?"

"I suppose it might."

"He's not going to be coming up to the house anyways, except to deliver some firewood, he promised."

"He's gathering firewood as well?"

"He said it was to pay for our hospitality."

"Well that is polite. But all the same I want you to stay in the house tonight. And I'm going to call Jason and give him a piece of my mind."

The phone was retrieved; Andre could hear the rotary dialing commence. He wasn't all that concerned with hearing Jason receive a dressing down from his grandmother, assuming of course she could get a hold of him. Andre's brief glimpse into Jason's lifestyle told him a great deal about his reliability and his distractibility.

He made his way back to the woods, and quickly gathered up a good-sized pile of firewood, nothing overly huge, he didn't want to tip his strength to the ladies. He delivered it to the front porch, then gathered up his bag, pulled out his cellphone and rang up Eric's man Bobby, to arrange for a proper bed for the day.