A/N- True Blood and SVM characters belong to Mrs. Harris, Alan Ball and HBO. Original Characters and story line are mine. Many hugs and cookies for the lovely feedback, reviews and alerts. My apologies for the late update, I managed to fry my main computer and had to get my alternate up and running. Luckily I obsess about back ups :)

Chapter 22

Today was going to be a long ass day. Eric unbeknownst to me had set my phone alarm for nine in the morning, which meant after the fun we had last night I only got about five hours of sleep. We were driving to Little Rock when he rose for the evening, so it was going to be an even longer night. I guess I could sleep on the way over but it was going to be cramped as it was with three of us in the sports car. I knew Eric wouldn't drive Pam's car, nor would he drive mine and I hadn't seen anything else parked in his garage this morning.

So why was I up at nine instead of sleep till two or three? Pam had apparently called Eric just before dawn to let him know that there had been an attempted theft of proprietary information at one of his other businesses, one I was supposed to monitor in my new position.

Eric has his fingers in a whole bunch of pies and this particular company had to do with something near and dear to my heart, the sun. You see after the little Russell fiasco, Eric had invested in a company which was researching ways to block the harmful rays of the sun for vampires. Of course, don't tell any human's that is what the research is about; to them it's just a fancy sun blocker for beach bunnies. Since my tan made it appear I was one of the beach bunnies Eric figured people would take to me right away.

He had explained to me the company majority was supernatural owned and actually started by Dr. Ludwig, hence the interest in Preston's blood. I guess they are going to try to break down the chemical compounds to figure out the sun block factor.

Now you would think I would be a bit nervous about one of the vampires major weaknesses possibly being negated, therefore allowing a dangerous predator the ability to roam 24 hours a day. My answer is simply, not really. They would still feel the pull of the sun and need to rest, or suffer the bleeds and accompanying loss of strength; they just wouldn't fry if they were caught out side. I guess if vampire's were the only thing which went bump in the night I would be more concerned but considering fairies, shifters and demons can be romping about twenty-four seven, and fairies in particular are just as nasty, I figure we are just evening out the playing field.

I pulled up to the company headquarters, stepped out of the car and straightened out my proper little business suit. The color was a peacock blue and looked stunning against my skin as well as making my eyes really pop. The pumps I wore had a heel I usually felt awkward in, but Pam had introduced me to a style which looked sexy and were comfortable to wear. She had helped me with the suit too. My jewelry was simple and my little hand bag contained my phone, keys, id and a credit card, no massive bag with the kitchen sink in it for me.

I was met at the door by a huge shifter who introduced himself as Edward; from his looks I was guessing a were-bear of some sort. Edward escorted me to a large conference room where I got to meet a scared little rabbit of a man named Peter. Yes, seriously Peter looked and acted like a scared little rabbit, from his slightly hunched shoulders and hands which he had constantly curled to his chest and rubbing together. To his fluffy top of white hair, watery timid eyes and a nose that constantly twitched like he was fighting off a sneeze.

I sat down and Peter explained I was going to be interviewing the four employees who had access to the data center where the theft had been attempted. They were sure nothing had been taken, but several alarms had been triggered when someone had tried to access the database without proper authorization. I thought there should be many more potential thieves but after taking a glance through Peter's mind I understood Pam had been through here last night. She was one of the reasons Mr. Rabbit was scared shitless. She must have whittled it down to these four through glamour interviews.

The first employee was a young man, barely out of college with a fresh faced innocence that made me feel centuries old. For a moment I felt I was looking into the eyes of a male version of me only a year ago. I shook off the thought and got to work, asking him questions about his day yesterday and walking him through the shift combing through his thoughts as we went. When we were through I just looked at Edward and he escorted the kid out and brought in another.

The next two employees appeared to be typical scientists; there was nothing in their thoughts but the desire to get back to their fascinating research. Fascinating in their own minds of course, some of the gobble gook I had to sift through, equations and such not was giving me a headache.

The last employee was a tall young woman with long dark hair and a body an Amazon would envy. Her eyes were an odd pale green; behind those eyes lay a mind which had massive mental shields. At first I thought she was fairy but the deeper I tried to probe the more she resonated as human. We went through the same questions as the previous interviewees and I kept hitting a blank wall. In fact she was starting to look a bit bored, so I switched up the questions.

I complimented her on her outfit and her eyes brightened as she dove into a discussion on the latest designers and how distasteful it was to work in an office with men who cared nothing about their bodies or the clothes they wore. Once we started discussing how disappointing the men were I was amused to see her mental shields start to weaken and within a few seconds I slipped back into her head. She was the one doing most of the talking now, with me humming occasionally in agreement. I rummaged through her thoughts occasionally asking her about specific male employees, those which had access to the data house. There was one in particular who kept fading in and out, as if she could never really see his face.

I started to describe him as I saw in her mind and with each point I tried to pry out of her would cause another piece of her mental shields to reform. I studied what I could see of the guy until I thought I had enough detail to relate to Pam so she could draw a likeness then I pulled out of the Amazon princess mind and thanked her for her cooperation.

I didn't think she had been glamoured, but I had a strong suspicion she may have been be spelled. I guess witches seemed to be everywhere, or would he be a warlock? I shrugged my shoulders, thanked Peter and Edward for their assistance, hopped in the car and headed to grab something to eat before going back to Eric.

The little restaurant I chose was a quiet little building tucked between two banks. There was only four tables inside and a long bar area with one cash register. The place smelled scrumptious and after perusing the chalk board menu I ordered the soup in a bread bowl with a glass of ginger ale. The food was delicious and I people watched while I ate at the bar.

I was learning so much about body language since I didn't have to spend so much effort maintaining shields. I watched a couple of women talk over their lunch and tried to guess from their hand movement and facial expressions what they were talking about, and then I would dip into their heads to see how close I had been. Let's just say I still have a lot to learn when it came to how successful I was.

Dinner over with I headed home, carefully watching my rear view mirror to make sure no one was following. I knew Eric was spending too much time stationary in one house; it was something Pam had started to grumble about. They used to switch all the time but since Eric and I had hooked up, he was either staying at what I called his house the one he said he favored, or my Gran's house. Sure they were secured to the hilt, but Pam said Eric hadn't lived a thousand years being predictable.

I believed part of the reason for Eric not swapping, was trying to give me the human appearance of stability. I needed to convince him while I enjoyed spending as much time with him as possible, I did not want to lose him to true death because he was no longer maintaining the security level he used to. I also was not expecting to learn all his hidden real estate, in fact I would preferably not know. Sure I could not be glamoured, but I certainly could be tortured and I would rather not be the one responsible for giving his secrets away.

I sighed as I pulled into his drive way. The interviewing had taken up pretty much the whole day, coupled with drive time and dinner meant it was about an hour after dusk. I had missed Eric rising, one of my favorite parts of the day.

I called out for him when I entered the house, kicking off my shoes and setting them to the side while heading toward our suite. I saw the light on in his library and heard him speaking in the language I did not understand so figured he was talking to Pam. I padded into our room and shimmied out of my clothes before taking a quick shower. The room was already steamy so I know I had just missed Eric, I couldn't help but pout.

Once I was finished I tossed on a comfy pair of jeans and a tight red sweater then walked over to where our luggage was sitting. I had got used to both Eric and Pam's sneaky ways so I opened each piece to see what they might have added. There was a couple pair of extra shoes and I caught the glimpse of a new dress bag which I would not be able to open unless I unpacked everything. When I was satisfied with the current contents I went into Eric's closet and pulled down a small wooden box I kept with my jeans. I was positive Eric knew what was in here, but I figured he would understand me keeping it at his house. I figured it was the safest place it could be. I opened up the box and pulled out the small leather bound book stashed inside. It was Marnie's spell book, the same book I had learned a few tricks from.

Now to make myself clear here, I am not a witch and I don't know how to cast spells. I do however seem to understand the theory behind the spells I could read. So far those only have to do with offensive or defensive results which affect the mind. Any other spell in the book seemed to writhe and blur in my eyes. The spells I could make out spoke to me as patterns and possibilities. I was able to see how they would work and what they would accomplish and then duplicate it in my head using my mental abilities. It was how I created the 'traps' in my shields. Of course, I obviously hadn't figured everything out hence my bit of coma after Preston triggered a booby trap.

There was a new spell which had become visible after I returned from Faerun. I had examined it a couple of times but I needed to ask Eric a couple of questions about how glamour worked. I studied the spell for a minute until I felt I had it memorized then placed it back in the box and tucked it away. Satisfied everything was ready I carried my luggage back upstairs next to the back door to the garage then headed back down to the library.

I found Eric off the phone and running a whetstone down the edge of his new sword. I observed for a moment and could swear the sword was larger, more in proportion to his body.

"Eric did that thing grow?" I asked sitting down next to him on the hilt side of the couch.

He grinned as he flipped the blade to hone the opposite side. "It is adjusting to its master."

"I want to try something," he said as he placed the whetstone back into a pouch and set it aside. While I watched he dropped his fangs and nipped his thumb before running the bloodied tip over the blades engravings. I watched in disbelief as the blood seemed to sink into the blade while the engravings sparkled blue and turquoise. The watery sheen over the whole blade seemed to lift and shimmer for a moment.

My voice cracked when I asked, "What did I just see?"

"Blood magic," he simply replied. "The Fae used blood in a lot of their spells too." Before I could stop him he slid his whole palm down the freshly honed blade. I expected to see his hand sliced to the bone and blood pouring out when he held it out to me. Instead his palm was undamaged not a wound or scar to be seen. If anything his smile became wider at the sight.

"I was right they placed a spell on the blade which will not let it harm those whose blood it recognizes." He reached for my hand and before I could stop him, he nipped my thumb and duplicated his earlier experiment. As my blood was absorbed by the blade the engravings flared in the colors of gold and yellow and pink and deep rose while again the whole blade shimmered.

"Here Sookie," he said and before I knew what he was doing he placed the hilt of the sword in my hands. For a split second I almost dropped it from the weight, as the thing was huge but before I could blink the sword was suddenly perfectly in proportion to my body and the balance of the weapon in my hand was exquisite. I had barely registered my astonishment when another feeling flooded over me. Something was crawling up my arms from the hilt I held in two hands. Something which was whispering to me and brushing over my mental shields before knocking softly and then a bit harder on the part of me Claudine had walled away. The sword was trying to access my Fae magic.

"Eric," I rasped. "Take it from me, take it now." I couldn't move to hand it to him, my hands refused to unwrap from the blade. Eric just looked at me blankly and I could feel the pressure build. "Eric if you don't take this from me, it is going to get mighty explosive in here." I was pouring desperation into him hoping he would listen. He finally moved in what my eyes saw as slow motion to unwrap my hands from the hilt and take the sword back.

I thought for a tiny second the blade was going to resist, but the sword let go of me with something which tasted like regret. I was breathing like I was running a marathon. I watched Eric attentively but saw nothing in his face to indicate the sword was trying to possess him in any way.

He examined me closely as he sheathed the blade in a harness I had missed earlier. He must have had it custom made. "What happened?" he asked me.

I looked at the blade with a bit of apprehension. "Something in there tried to access my hibernating magic, it also tested my shields. Do you feel anything when you hold it?"

"No but I then I already know how to use the blade," he explained. "There is probably a spell which seeks to link the wielder to the blade if the wielder is inexperienced. I guess you could say the blade tasted you, trying to judge your strengths and weakness and how best to use them combined with its own."

"Are you telling me that thing is alive?"

He laughed and his bangs flopped down into his eyes, making him look oh so sexy. I realized he hadn't slicked his hair back yet. The look made him appear a bit vulnerable and adorable, definitely not the look of an ancient vampire.

"No lover, not alive just a very special weapon. Whomever forged it did so meticulously and used all the weapon magic they had at their command to imbue it."

"Ok well I don't think I want to be handling it much. I really don't want to break open the fairy side of things."

His stare was slightly brooding. "Your magic is part of who you are. I do hope someday you will accept and embrace it as you have your telepathy now that your kin have been banished," then he leaned over and kissed me softly before rising and slinging the harness over his shoulder and across his back adjusting straps until he was comfortable before removing it and wrapping it all up.

"You are taking it with us?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes, we will be in enemy territory and it will be expected for us to appear armed. I have a few other items tucked away. When we get there and are dressed, Pam and I will help you arm yourself."

"You are kidding right?"

"No," was his quiet reply. "I never joke when it comes to your safety."

I ignored his comment in the interim for something was niggling about the sword from earlier. "Eric if you could describe how your connection to me looked like in your head what would it be?" I wasn't sure if he would see colors or shapes or something entirely different as his representation of our bond.

"The sun," he explained. "All the colors I can remember for dawn and sunset across the oceans horizon."

"How about Pam?"

"What I think you call pastels, the lighter colors she favors. Why do you ask?"

"I think those were our bonds colors which appeared when the sword absorbed our blood. I see you as shades of blue and turquoise."

"Perhaps it recognized the bond. After all you carry my blood just as I carry yours. Come we must finish packing, Pam will be here soon." He gathered up the sword and a couple of other things from his office and headed back to the bedroom. I checked over his things while he finished getting ready. I was acutely disappointed when he reappeared with his hair full of product and tucked behind his ears. The business like sheriff was back and the mischievous vampire was safely tucked away.

"What?" he questioned as he lifted the bags having felt my disappointment.

I blushed and shrugged lightly. "I like your hair natural."

He was thoughtful, "Would you like me to grow it out?" My face must have lit up like a Christmas tree. "I'll take that as a yes," he said with a smile leading me up the stairs.

I was still beaming when we ran into Pam at the top of the stairs and she stared at us curiously when she took a deep breath and didn't scent sex.

"I will tell you later Pam," I said with a smile as I bounced down the steps into the garage only to be brought up short when I saw what Eric was packing our bags in.

The vehicle was a four door sedan, completely nondescript. There was nothing about it to catch the eye, in other words completely un Eric.

"It is boring is it not," Pam said from behind me.

"Very," I responded.

"It is supposed to appear to be," Eric said as he slid into the driver's seat after seating me inside an interior which was definitely not boring. Pam slipped into the passenger seat and glanced at me over her shoulder with a wide smile.

"Comfy though."

Comfy was an understatement. The interior made up for the exterior with full leather cushy seats, all the electronic gadgets a driver and spoiled passengers could wish for and with the power I felt surging underneath me as Eric pulled out onto the road, it had one heck of a suped up engine.

"The exterior is bullet proof and if the tires are damaged in any way they will reseal," Pam explained and then showed off some of the ritzy gear like a targeting system which displayed onto the windshield complete with small guns that slid up over the headlights.

"Did you steal this from James Bond or something?" I asked incredulous at the dangerous toys she had at her fingertips. "I assume the ammunition is silver?"

"Of course," she assured me with a frown, "and no we did not steal this vehicle, Eric had it custom made for trips like this."

"Um guys," I said hesitantly. "We are like, only driving for three hours into a neighboring state. Just what do you think is going to happen between here and there?"

Eric looked at me with a small smile in the rear view mirror, "Lover the last time you traveled any distance by car I believe you encountered a Maenad and the Fellowship." I stuck my tongue out at him and he smirked as he continued. "I prepare only for hostile vampires and possibly shifters in a state where our former Queen has been accused of murder."

"We figured with you traveling with us we would need to double the security," Pam piped up from her seat.

I slapped at her reaching between the front seats from my spot in the back.

"Hey," I said remembering my job this morning. "You have what looks like a witch or warlock or whatever you call them messing around at the data center."

"Who was guilty the young one?" Pam asked.

"Nope the Amazon princess has had her head messed with but it wasn't glamour at least nothing I recognized as glamour." I then went on to explain the whole morning and Pam pulled out a small sketchbook to work on a visual of our guilty party. When she was finished I was not surprised to see her pop out a fax machine from the dashboard and send the image off to match against employment records. I described the shields I had found in the woman's head then asked the two vampires questions about how their glamour works.

They verified what I already knew, how they can edit memories and influence actions and emotions though I figured there were much they were not telling me. I explained about the spell I had found in the spell book which looked a lot like what I had found in the woman's head, someone was trying to lock away her memories, but it wasn't like what I did with Lafayette.

"Sookie you are still dabbling with that book?" Eric asked me with concern having dealt first hand with the results.

"I can only see the mental stuff. It just makes clearer things I apparently can already do. I just never thought of using my ability in those particular ways. Basically I just get ideas from it, then experiment."

His stare in the rear-view mirror hardened, "It is the experimental part which concerns me."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I am being careful Eric. How many times did you cut yourself when you were learning to use a sword?'

"Not the same," he responded firmly.

"Is too"

"Is not"

"Kids these days," Pam drawled while filing her nails.

I huffed and ignored both of them, curling into the seat to catch some sleep. Eric was driving like Eric so our travel time would be less than three hours but it still meant a long night for this human.

I woke when Eric carried me into the hotel, smiling up at him sleepily before curling back into his chest. I was vaguely aware when he stripped me and tucked me into the bed but then I was out for a few hours until his teasing fingers drew me back up from my dreams.

"Come lover," he purred into my ear. "It's just after midnight, time for us to meet our hosts for the evening."

I stretched and wrapped my arms around his neck drawing him down for a toe curling kiss before he reluctantly pulled away.

"Eric, don't you want to feed before we go?" I asked before he could escape me. He popped back next to me and shortly a very satisfied vampire and telepath were drying from a quick shower.

Eric pulled out the dress bag I had seen from earlier and handed it to me with a tiny thong and a handful of what felt like spider web. I raised a brow at him and he just flashed a bit of fang before extracting his own clothes.

I walked over to the bed and laid the items down so I could yank the dress from the bag.

"You have got to be kidding me," I muttered when I saw the dress for the first time. Eric ignored me and kept dressing with a smile.

I sighed and examined the fastening, trying to figure out how to get the bloody thing on, and then pulled on the tiny thong and thigh high hosiery before slipping into the leather dress.

The dress was black leather with a matching choker collar linked to the corset bodice by seven apparently platinum chains. The dress hugged my body and laced shut in the back, which I had to have Eric do with much enjoyment on his part. The skirt would be barely decent when I sat down, but thankfully the whole outfit wasn't binding or restrictive. I stepped into the matching heels then began to work on my hair.

Eric, who was dressed only in tight leather pants and boots took the brush from me and braided my hair up all fancy, tucking the ends underneath at the nap of my neck and securing everything with a couple of ebony hair pins.

He smiled at me in the mirror as he smoothed back a couple of loose strands, using some of his own hair product. "I remember how good you are with a piece of wood lover," he tugged at the sticks, "these make excellent stakes in an emergency."

My mouth opened into a little 'O'.

He walked back over to the luggage and drew out a pair of leather elbow length gloves and a box. He helped me into the gloves then pulled out a diamond rope bracelet from the box.

My eyes which were as wide as saucers got even wider when he showed me how the clasp would twist and out would pop a silver garrote which had been tucked up in the bracelet. He put it all back together and fastened it to my wrist with a little kiss to my clavicle when he was done.

When he felt I was ready, he finished dressing; which consisted of shrugging on the leather harness that sheathed the broadsword over his bare chest and shoulders and slipping into a leather trench coat with a special slit on the top for the hilt. The coat was meant to leave his chest bare and fastened to his harness at the shoulder so it would not flap around in the front.

I just licked my lips hoping I had caught all the drool as I stared, then I had to keep from jumping him when he gave me his trademark smirk.

"Yum," I breathed as I whirled a finger asking him to turn for me. The coat flowed around him and with eighteen inches of hilt peeping over his shoulder he looked even more massive than usual.

There was a proprietary knock on the door before Pam entered dressed in what I could only describe as leather and buckle cat suit with the straps appearing in suggestive places.

Pam's fangs snapped down when she took in my appearance and then she nodded to Eric in approval. Heck if I had fangs they would be down for the two of them too. Then I noticed Pam had a lot of things piercing her skin where I don't remember seeing piercings before.

She saw me eyeing them and shrugged. "As long as it isn't silver, it just heals right back up when I take them out."

"Oh"

I was curious. "So what's up with the leather look?" I asked as she did my makeup. She gave me smokey eyes and blood red lips with a hint of blush.

"It fits with where we will be meeting Victor and the others."

I nodded to Eric absently as he explained, for Pam had started pulling silver stilettos and silver wire from different parts of her outfit. Then walked over and hid a pair of small stilettos in my corset under my arms and showed me how to access them quickly. I figured if Eric had armed me this much and with all of the things Pam was sporting, then he was armed to the teeth with more than just a sword.

Both of my vamps looked me over with approval before we stepped from the hotel. A different, sportier vehicle waited for us below, in Eric's signature red.

"It is just as well armed," Eric responded before I could ask as he handed me into the front seat, apparently Pam was riding shotgun this time.

When we were on our way to our destination Eric took my left hand and linked our fingers. He was concentrating on the traffic in front of us as he began to speak.

"Sookie, remember when you were in the office when Andre and Appius arrived?" He glanced at me for a moment and caught my nod. "Good," he said as he brought our hands to his lips. "I need you to act similar here. I want that mix of arrogance and submission; do you think you can duplicate it?"

"Yes," I responded. "But I thought you wanted me to play shadow?"

"I need you to be in the background at the trial, yes. But here I need you show everyone why I would choose you out of all the humans as my bonded."

I began to chuckle a bit and he flashed me a grin when he felt my full fledged amusement through our bond. "But I thought you chose me because of my stubborn pigheadedness."

Pam answered me with all seriousness. "He chose you because beneath the innocent southern belle hides a woman with the bearing of a queen and the courage of a warrior."

My mouth had dropped open and I tugged my hand from Eric to twist around to look at Pam then stared back at Eric's profile where a hidden smile lurked on his lips. Our bond was flooded with serenity and contentment, not one drop of amusement or teasing.

"Well then," I said after I gathered myself back together. "I damn well hope I don't disappoint you."

This time Pam reached through to pat me on the shoulder to reassure me and when I glanced into the rearview mirror she was smiling serenely.

We pulled into the parking lot of what appeared to be a warehouse. The moment the car came to a stop there was someone opening my door and Pam's and handing us out onto the curb.

Eric handed over the keys with a warning flash of fang then guided both Pam and I inside. The moment we trod through the door I felt a change come over Eric. It was like he possessed the place. Power and authority rolled off his body which seemed to grow in stature. I could feel every hair on my arms stand to attention and my nether region moistened in reaction. I glanced across Eric to peek at Pam and saw she had taken on a predatory stance. Ok then, I guess it was my turn. I pulled all of the mannerisms Gran had taught me as to how a southern lady presented herself and then gave myself a pep talk before pulling my stone face into place.

You're a fucking fairy princess Sookie, I told myself. You may despise your blood kin but compared to your family the people you will be confronting are just meat for the stew.

I was trying to channel the warrior queen Pam was talking about. I guess I must have been successful because I could feel approval from Eric as he stepped forward.

I tried not to gawk as we moved through the leather clad crowd. The warehouse had been converted into a club where the first floor was for drinking and socializing, the second floor loft was for dancing and the third floor loft was more of a V.I.P. gathering area.

Like always happens when Eric appears, the crowd parted before us like the Red Sea and soon we were taking the last steps to the lounge. I let my eyes rove over the vampires and humans gathered there, noting a few I recognized like Andre (eww) and Hadley and a couple I've seen Eric talk too who he had said were Sheriffs from other areas in Louisiana. In fact the number of Sheriffs made me a bit nervous. If they were all here then who was watching over the state?

I wasn't prepared for the human who turn toward us on Victor's arm though. She was stunning in a bronze leather outfit with gold curled around her wrists, muscular biceps and long neck.

Eric squeezed my arm in warning and I caught the words before they spilled from my lips. I ignored the woman outwardly but in my head I was screaming, "Tara what the fuck are you doing here?"