I have tried to reconstruct a family tree here, but there is limited SVM information. I have made up some names for continuity sakes, but things will stay cannon for all our main characters. As much as is possible.

Enjoy,

Merick

Chapter Nine

"What's it like, living at night?"

"Mostly the same as living during the day as I recall. Just a lot less crowded." Andre laughed a little. The conversation with Sookie had been quite light hearted after Adele had left, as if Sookie was trying to make up for the inquisitive nature of the questions. They'd talked about all manner of trivial things, Andre hadn't minded, it was all part of the plan. "You get used to it after awhile."

"But I bet it gets lonely?"

"It can, it has, but that is going to change now." Andre pursed his lips together and smiled a straight little smile for her. "We can come out and introduce ourselves now. We can make friends." He purposely reinforced her own suggestion from earlier, to good affect as she smiled shyly again and her eyes dropped down to her lap.

"Why don't you tell me a bit more about your family Sookie?" He prodded, not wanting to give up her company just yet.

"Well, you met Gran." She began. "As I said, Dad and Mom died when I was pretty little. I know Mom adored my Dad, and we had some good times together as a family, camping in the back garden and going to the community events like fireworks on the fourth of July and harvest picnics. I remember a little less about them with every year that goes by. Gran tries to tell me stories, so we both remember."

"And you grew up here?"

"In Bon Temps? Yes, my whole life. This house has been in the Stackhouse family since before the civil war. Though there used to be a lot more land." Sookie gestured around with her outstretched arm. "Grandpa used to farm, but after he died Gran had to sell off some of the land, especially after Dad and Mom died too. Grandpa had left her with enough, but she was determined to save my parents' house for us. She paid the taxes and upkeep on it for almost ten years, until Jason moved in."

"She sounds like an amazing woman Sookie."

Andre watched as Sookie's gaze shifted from him to the windows, illuminated from within. He knew she was thinking of the woman who had raised her and the parents she had lost. The shadows from the night showed off the curve of her beautiful neck in such a manner that Andre felt his hunger rise again, and his fangs drop. He averted his own gaze from her, back out to the woods until he could regain control. Sookie's voice began to sound far away.

"We have the woods, and the land out to the road, and up to the old cemetery. There's a path through there out to the old Compton place."

"Perhaps one day you will walk with me through there?" He offered.

"Yes, perhaps we will." Her distraction was annoying, but only briefly, as a movement in the woods pulled his attention away from more pleasant pursuits, and setting it to anxiety, which he tried to conceal.

"You are tired Sookie. I am so sorry for keeping you up so late." He stood, knowing he had to deal with whatever was lurking about before it had a chance to escape him. "I hope I can see you again tomorrow." Her expression wasn't as confused at his sudden change of topic as Andre imagined it might have been.

"I have to work late tomorrow, I'm sorry, maybe you won't want to wait for me?"

"Of course I will wait." But just then Andre knew he needed to move. "You should go in to your grandmother. She does not trust me yet, and I don't wish to give her any other reasons besides my nature to suspect me of any wrongdoings."

"She isn't like that Andre." Sookie began to protest.

"But I will be on my best behavior none the less." He offered his hand to Sookie and she took it to help rise.

"Your skin is cold." She looked at him with raised eyebrows, cocking her head to her right.

"I'm sorry Sookie. It's part of being a Vampire."

"It's okay Andre. I don't mind." She grasped his hand a little more firmly then and smiled at him, as if to reassure herself. "I'll see you tomorrow." Then she leaned in and kissed him very, very quickly on the cheek.

He saw her into the house and walked down the steps at a much reduced pace than his brain wanted. Though as soon as he felt it was safe, and he heard the curtains drawn in what he presumed was the living room, he took off at his top speed in pursuit of whatever, or whoever had been watching them. It took no great skill to locate the figure in the navy hoodie. Even less to catch him up around the neck with one hand and force him to the ground with a snarl and hungry fangs.

"Who are you?" Andre growled, all pretense of innocence and youth banished from his face, his cold eyes staring right into the being's soul even as his knee pushed him into the earth.

"I'm called Mathew." The tone of his voice was so arrogant yet so slurred, that Andre almost thought the Vampire beneath him could have been drunk. But, of course, that was impossible. "You smell amazing brother." He continued, "Was it that girl there? Is she your pet? Maybe you could share?"

"I am not your brother!" The implied threat to Sookie, and the realization that this Mathew could smell her otherness on him made Andre even angrier. He pressed his knee further into Mathew's chest, feeling ribs give way. "Who sent you?"

"Just passing through." The response was quieter, but not submissive.

"Sherriff Northman?" Andre paused, all senses on alert, including a healthy dose of paranoia. "The Queen?" He did not want to believe that Sophie Ann could be keeping tabs on him, but he suddenly understood that she might easily be. Sookie would be as much an asset for her as for Andre to conquer, and Sophie Ann did like to conquer. Andre's grip on the throat of the younger Vampire tightened cutting off any possibility of him answering. "Who sent you?" Andre hissed.

"No one." Thin lips mouthed the words as weakened hands reached for Andre's. The gesture was useless against the power, yet Mathew didn't even seem frightened of his own impending final death.

"I don't believe you!" And ancient fingers closed over the throat, tearing into the flesh until gobs of black blood oozed around them, obscuring the fine pale skin. The smell of the exposed blood hung in the air, further driving Andre's rage. Something about it wasn't right, just as something about the man himself wasn't right, but he didn't take the time to explore the questions, purpose drove him forward. The gore of the wound crumpled in Andre's anger until his fingers met themselves again, and Mathew's head was completely severed from his body. In moments the remaining mess collapsed into the forest floor. By morning, Andre knew, there would be no trace of the corpse, and whoever had sent him would be out one useless minion. Andre was furious, and just then he had no idea who to direct the anger towards, which was even worse.

ooOOoo

Andre had made a number of calls when he returned to his rooms, he might have sounded short with those he was able to connect to, or he might have just sounded like himself. It was getting hard to pull away from the role he was using to fool the telepath, controlling his thoughts as he had been doing. Whatever the mental effort though, it seemed to be working with her, because if she had been in his head she'd gotten no trace of any true motives, the ones he had buried. He was going to need that skill for a while yet. But, whatever the demeanor he projected over the phone, his inquiries had gotten him some of the names he needed, and alone, over the particleboard desk that occupied the wall opposite the bed, he wrote out the family tree, as he had so far ascertained it.

Adele Hale, daughter of Joseph Hale and Adelyn surname Ukn,

Brother: Bartlett Hale: no children

Mitchell Stackhouse, son of Corbett Winston Stackhouse and Elizabeth surname unknown.

Adele Hale married Mitchell Stackhouse: 2 children, Corbett Hale Stackhouse and Linda Stackhouse.

Child #1: Corbett Hale Stackhouse, married Michelle surname unknown, Child #1a: Jason Stackhouse, Child #2a Sookie Stackhouse

Child #2: Linda Stackhouse married Harper Delahoussaya, Child #1a Hadley Delahoussaye married Remy Savoy

It was a pitiful list as Andre scanned it over. It would have been more exciting if he could have included all the partners Jason had likely had, but no more useful. He was quite certain that it would do nothing to satisfy Sophie Ann's need for information, and she would be demanding that of him in fairly short order, (perhaps very short if Mathew had been one of her servants). He stared at the paper, knowing that Adele had no trace of fairy on her person, so that the likely lineage had to be through her husband, or through the father of her children if he was to be more precise. That possibility made Andre even more frustrated. Somewhere back there was a fairy, these things didn't skip generations (which let out investigating Adele's brother), but sorting out how far back seemed just then to be an impossible task; and perhaps in the end, an unnecessary one. Andre hadn't even tested out Sookie's possible telepathy, and its connection to the fairy blood couldn't be established either. His mind was running in uncomfortable circles, and so he slammed the cover of his notebook closed just so he didn't have to look at the names any longer.

"I will sort you out Sookie Stackhouse." He mumbled to himself. "And I will make you mine."

ooOOoo

The house was very quiet when Andre approached, he noted immediately that the graveled driveway had been leveled, and that a large stack of logs, still in need of splitting had been piled by the old garden shed. It would seem that Sookie's brother had finally arrived to do the chores Adele had alluded to the previous evening, or at least some of them. Perhaps she was intent on proving her independence in the face of the Vampire newcomer? Perhaps she had just used her considerable power as his grandmother to insist that Jason fulfill his obligations. Andre rounded the side yard and approached the porch, where another anomaly caught his eye, a little box, left on the second step, presumably right where he could find it. The indentifying markings were obvious, even from yards away, but it was the note on it that gave him a brief pause.

"A girlfriend at work asked me to look after her kids tonight after my shift, so I'll probably have to sleep over. I didn't want you to think that I forgot about you. I went all the way into Shreveport today to pick this up for you, just so no one around here would ask any questions. So your secret is safe. Sookie." She had even drawn a little happy face under her name.

The bottles in the box clinked together as he opened it: six Tru Bloods, each protected in its own little cardboard sleeve. He couldn't help but smile. And even though it wasn't his favorite beverage, and he wasn't really hungry (at least not for blood), he opened a bottle and drank it away completely. Then he tucked the case under his arm, put the empty around the back (after tearing off the black label), in the garbage bin that seemed to be devoted to such things, and retreated back into the woods.