Note*** For anyone who can't tell, I love Terry, he is my fav secondary character!

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Terry jumped down from the back of the Ute as Sam and Sookie climbed out of the cab. "How many are here?" She asked Andy who hurried across the school carp park to meet them.

"Pretty much everyone, I've packed up the two school buses already so's anyone without a car can hitch a ride on one of them."

"Andy, that was a brilliant idea!" Sookie beamed at him and Andy shrugged a little self-consciously, though he admitted to himself it felt good to have someone praise something he'd done.

"Arlene and the kid's on their way out?" Andy asked as Terry made to walk past him.

"Uh, yeah." Terry mumbled. "They're uh, headin' to Arlene's, cousin's... somethin'. I told her not to come back till she heard from someone so..."

Andy clapped him on the shoulder. "It was the right thing to do Terry, you know that." Terry nodded and headed into the school hall. Now wasn't a time for talkin' about things like that. "You ready for this, Sookie?" He asked, turning to her.

"No one's ever ready for this," she said carefully. "I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

"Well do it out here," Andy told her sternly. "Last thing them folks need is to see you lose your breakfast. This is your show girl, make it good." He turned and followed Terry into the hall, leaving her alone with Sam.

"Shit... shit... Sam... I can't do this, I can't..." She lent back against the car and started to hyperventilate until Sam took her firmly by the shoulders and shook her.

"Snap out of it Sookie! What happened to all that stuff you said this mornin'? Huh? 'Bout this bein' our town."

"I was still angry this mornin'! Now I'm jus' scared..." She looked up at him. "How do I tell everyone I've ever cared about that I want them to fight werewolves and that they're only comin' cuz of me?"

"Exactly the same way you told us this mornin', cher." He touched her chin gently, "you made a pretty decent speech then, 'bout our home, about standin' up for what's ours. This is the south, Sookie. Most of those people are decadents of the Glorious Dead! Show 'em the battle, Sook, they'll fight it."

"Ok... Ok..." She took a deep breath and touched the vial of blood that still hung around her neck under Sam's shirt. "Alright..."

The school hall was packed absolutely full. Sookie didn't know exactly what Andy and the deputy's had told everyone, but it seemed like all the men (and the more gung-ho women) were inside while mums, sisters and children were out enjoying the sunshine on the grass. Sookie was struck on the way in by Shirley Mapley giving her a wink as she painted a little boy's face with a superman logo. Behind her, other kid's were playing, or lined up to get their face's done. It had turned into a mini carnival... Sookie steeled herself and walked up the stairs onto the little stage with Andy, Terry and Sam. Everyone went quiet.

"Y'all know me," she said after a long pause, "Y'all have known me since I was a little girl... Crazy Sookie Stackhouse." She looked around the room, hoping something profound would pop into her mouth, but it didn't seem to come. "I don't have to tell any of you what I can do, do I?" she asked of no one in particular, the slight rumble of ascent in the crowd prompted her to continue. "Some of y'all have been avoidin' me for years. I ain't never grudged you that... no one want's to be spied on, even if it aint my fault. Since the Vampires 'came out', thing's haven't been as calm around here as when we were all kids'." The rumble of agreement was a little louder this time. "The world's changed, and there aint no changin' it back, not now. I hate that it's me up here... about to tell you some thing's that're gonna change everything again, but there's no one else, so here I am."

She took a deep breath and let it out explosively. "Somethin' bad is comin'. Somethin', I don't even know how to begin to explain... Here in Louisiana, the Vampire community has it's own leader. They call her a Queen, and she's meant to keep everythin' runnin smooth. Like all simple folks know, though, havin' a title like that don't always make you good at your job." The crowd tittered and Sookie kept going. "The Queen of Louisiana, turns out, isn't a very strong woman... Things have gotten away from her and now, it's us, the people of Bon Temps, who are gonna have to deal with the consequences of that. Another vampire, the King of Mississippi, he's plannin' an invasion of our state, tomorrow night." The crowd stilled.

Sookie could feel the energy in the room, the barely contained power vibrating in the people she'd known all her life... "Tomorrow night, this King is going to send a small army of werewolves, drugged up and crazy, to take this state from the Queen and clear the way for him." Grumbling, both vocal and within their minds flowed over and around her, robbing her concentration for a moment. "We're not on our own!" She interrupted them loudly. "Every local Vampire will be here tomorrow night to help us... along with another nest, comin' in from Dallas. I know you don't have no cause to trust them, but they will die too if the invasion goes ahead." A humming silence again and Sookie prepared herself for the final blow. "You should know that... that the reason he's comin' here, is for me." Sam, Andy and Terry closed up behind her and she felt cushioned somewhat by their presence. "He wants to take me, use my gifts... force me to read people so he can control them..."

The crowd was grumbling audibly now, with the split evenly fifty fifty between wanting to fight and wanting to simply turn her over and avoid the whole business. Sookie was surprised when Terry gently pulled her back with one arm and took her place in front.

"HEY!" He bellowed, and every eye turned to stare in astonishment. "I see what's happenin' down there. I see exactly what's goin' on." His voice lowered to deadly, cold tones that they couldn't help but strain to hear. "I see the people I know, the one's what fetched up here next to me. Next to Sookie. I see them getting' ready, plannin' the fight what's comin', an' I'm proud o' them... An' 'en I see people I aint never laid eyes on before." His eyes swept over the crowd, half of whom were standing straight, watching him with rapt attention, while the other half couldn't handle his gaze and stared intently at their shoes. "Who are y'all? You aint my neighbours. Not the one's been huntin' with us, shared our food, our friendship an' our lives! Shame! No one I know, here in this town, would turn one o' their own over to some despot bastard! You tuck your God damn tail 'tween yer legs and run if you wonna. All you prove is you never belonged here anyway. Two days time the people of this town will have shown that bastard exactly what the south costs!"

Sookie was nearly bowled over by the noise. She gasped and lent heavily on Sam's shoulder as she saw something with her mind she'd never thought possible. Almost the entire crowd thought and felt the exact same thing at the exact same time! The inarticulate roar Terry had drawn from their throat's echoed in her head, drowning out the tiny sparks of self preservation that flared here and there. "Oh my God..." she gasped softly, "their minds... Sam... their mind's are all the same!"

Terry turned and held his hand out to her, which she took, feeling somehow like he was beyond her to have done this to everyone. "You can get 'em organised now," he whispered to her and to her surprise he sounded completely normal! She looked up at him sharply and he just shrugged. "You hear enough speachin', you kinda get a feel for it. They're good folks Sookie... they jus' needed to remember."

"You're and amazing man Terry, Arlene's very lucky..."

Terry blushed and quickly moved behind her to hide it. Andy slapped him on the shoulder and Sam nodded in profound respect. Maybe Terry should get a raise, he was thinking.

"Now, Andy's got the school buses gased and ready. We wanna get all the kid's and older folks down to Shreveport where we'll have a safe place organised for them later on tonight. By tomorrow mornin' the only people in this town should be people fixin' to fight. Please, don't take a place on the buses unless you aint got no car or someone to drive. Sam's gonna be outside organisin' car poolin' for anyone interested, or anyone who can't get a lift out of town on their own an' wants one." She gestured to Sam somewhat redundantly, he was even better known in town she she was.

"I know no one's gonna wanna talk tactic's till their family's safe, so we're gonna get that done first!" There was a general murmur of agreement. "Once that's all sorted, Andy and Terry are gonna come down talk to y'all about how this is gonna work. After nightfall our vampire reinforcements should be arrivin' and they'll be bringin' everything we need. As I'm sure y'all know, Vampires and werewolves have problems with silver and some other stuff, but let's face it, ordinary folks don't usually have caches of silver bullets. Don't worry though, all that's bein' taken care of. No one's goin' into this unarmed."

"OK everybody," Sam clapped his hands for attention as he started down the stairs. "I'll be right outside this door and to the left. Please remember there are kid's outside and we don't want to start a panic. I know y'all are buzzin' right now, but please, we gotta keep some decorum till we make sure everyone that needs to can get out'a town. I also know some of you are concerned about your wives, not wantin' to leave and such. If you can stop by Jason Stackhouse for a chat, he's got an option ya'll might want to consider before you have a big whohaa with the wife. Alright, let's get movin' people."

Small town people are quick to organise once someone points them the right way. All the travel arrangements were handled within a few hours and as the sun was kissing the horizon, Bon Temps defenders gathered at the school again, this time without their children and such women and elderly as wouldn't be staying.

"That was a brilliant idea, for makin' the wives useful and keepin' 'em out of harms way, Jason." Andy said with a grin.

"I have been surrounded by damn stubborn women all mah life. Best you can hope for most times is damage control." Jason said sagely.

Andy nodded his agreement and went back to watching the people file in. Over in the corner, Sookie was playing with the vile of blood around her neck. She'd meant to get back to Shreveport before Eric woke up, she'd wanted to talk to him before he came but there hadn't been time. Would he go to Shreveport first and pick up their reinforcements, or would he come find her? She wished she could tell him to come see her first, that things would go better if he introduced himself alone instead of arriving with a small army of vampires at his back.

"What's gonna happen now, Sook?" Jason asked, walking up to her with big smears of oil on his singlet.

"I'm not sure. Eric should be awake by now, but I don't know if he'll come here first or if he'll go start moving the vampires. I wish I had a cell, or even just his number. We'll just have to keep goin' like we are until he gets here, one way or another." Jason was nodding his agreement.

"No worries, Sook. I got me like, fifty middle aged women, cookin' up my secret weapon. They'll be at it for hours yet but, we'll be ready by tomorrow night."

"Awesome... that was a great idea you know Jason."

"Thanks baby sister." He pulled her to him, smearing her with oil in the process. "Oh... sorry."

Sookie laughed, "It's not mine. I borrowed it from Sam this mornin'. I didn' have nothing clean and it probably wasn't safe for me to go home with the werewolves hangin' around. I'm assumin' they've been watchin' us here... might make 'em a little more careful when they come but... I doubt it."

As Jason opened his mouth to reply, someone started screaming outside. The noise spread and soon there were dozens of voices all bordering on hysterical. Jason and Sookie ran outside to see Eric leaning casually against the flagpole, polishing his nails on his shirt.

"He flew!" Someone squealed.

"You great theatrical ass hole, you couldn't land out of sight an' walk in?" Sookie demanded, pushing her way through the gaping crowd and thumping him as hard as she could in the chest. Eric hardly felt it of course, but the act seemed to put the crowd somewhat more at ease. "For God's sake. It's OK everyone, he's on our side." She said loudly.

"You didn't make it back," he said with a frown as he followed her inside.

"Hey, you try organising an entire town in one day. It's not like I been sittin' on my hands down here. We had to get the kid's and elderly organised to leave town, you are going to need to put them up somewhere in Shreveport until after tomorrow night by the way." She turned and poked him in the chest.

"I don't remember agreeing to this..." He said flatly.

Jason watched, deeply concerned, but Sookie didn't seem to be worried.

"I agreed for you. I save your ass, you protect my town. Protecting includes keeping them out of the rain..."

"How many," Eric said after a small pause.

"'Bout fifty families worth. Give or take."

Eric's eyes bulged slightly but he reached into his pocket for his phone. "Yes, directory assistance... yes, I need the number for the largest hotel in Shreveport. Yes. How many rooms? Yes. Thank you." he hung up and a moment later his phone buzzed as the number was SMSed to his phone. "One moment. Renting an entire hotel on one day's notice usually takes some string pulling... I'll be right back." he walked off into a corner and Jason watched him with wide eyes.

"Sookie... did that big scarey mother fucker just book every room in a hotel jus' cuz you told him too?" He asked, a little awed.

"Hmm? He can afford it."

"But... why's he doin' it? Just cuz you said?"

Sookie looked over her shoulder at Eric's back. He seemed to be having a very quiet but somewhat intense conversation with someone. She felt sorry for whoever it was, but at least everyone would have somewhere to sleep and it's not like the hotel wouldn't get paid. "He's not that bad. You just have to have him owe you a huge favour and know how to talk to him, that's all."

"Riiiight." Jason shook his head. "Sookie... you're fuckin' scary these days, you know that?"