A/N: I have no excuses…just a lack of motivation and traveling. But I'm back and so are the (hopefully) regular updates to this story.
Previously…
"Sookie, will you come by tomorrow night?" Eric asked with his puppy dog eyes that he knew I could not resist.
"Sure Eric." I said and left his side. I regretted leaving before I could give him a goodbye hug, but it seemed like his adoring fans all wanted a piece of him.
I got into my car and put the top down, deciding that I could use some fresh air. I pulled out of the parking lot onto the main stretch of the road leading to the highway. I happened to catch the red light at the intersection. I glanced in my rearview mirror and became slightly alarmed. There was a car barreling behind me that didn't appear to be slowing down. I had no choice but to brace for impact, seeing as how I couldn't exactly drive into the intersection.
The impact wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, though my neck hurt like the dickens. My airbag didn't deploy, so I knew that the impact was that bad.
I got out to assess the damage, and it seemed like there was just minor damage to my rear bumper. I was quite pissed seeing as how I hadn't even had the car for eight hours and I was already involved in an accident.
The guy that hit me was quite apologetic saying that he was texting someone and didn't notice that the light was red.
It wasn't bad enough to call the police, so we exchanged insurance information.
Before we parted he went to shake my hand. As soon as he touched me, I flinched. But before I could pull my hand away, the man, Mark, began chanting. The language sounded just like the language I heard in the woman's head last night at Fangtasia.
"Ut enim pereunte memoria tenetis ones carissimi. Cras quis rememer eos."
"Ut enim pereunte memoria tenetis ones carissimi. Cras quis rememer eos."
"Ut enim pereunte memoria tenetis ones carissimi. Cras quis rememer eos."
Chapter 20- Sookie POV
My hazy sleep fogged mind just didn't seem to want to wake. I remember having the oddest dream last night though. I was lying in bed next to the sexiest man I had ever seen. He had short blonde hair, muscular pecs and shoulders, and he was extremely tall. His piercing blue eyes and the slight age lines under them told a story of a hardened long life. The way he spoke my name gave me goose pimples, well dream goose pimples anyway.
In my dream I had immensely cared for this nameless man, yet I didn't know his him in the slightest. I knew that I had never met him in real life, but I somehow knew him.
Deciding to force myself out of bed was a difficult task, but I knew that I needed to start my day. I had just inherited a lot of money and I needed to find a way to put it to good use. I had spoken to…to Sam? No, that isn't right. Jason? No, I would never talk to him about this kind of thing. Hell, I don't remember who I had spoken to, but I had planned to open up a nonprofit organization to help children in abusive situations. First things first, I needed to figure out how to open up such an organization.
I took my car in to the body shop to fix my bumper from the accident last night. Then I decided to head to Best Buy to get a new laptop and some other small office equipment. I figured, if I was going to be the head of a nonprofit, I was probably going to need to set up a small office in my home.
It was bothering me all day though; I couldn't seem to remember why I was in Shreveport last night to have gotten into that fender bender. I was having some memory problems, and that unnerved me since I had never had these types of problems before.
I managed to make my way to the Bon Temps Public Library, where I found some good books on nonprofits and how to set up a business entity.
By the time I got home, it was late in the afternoon, and since I hadn't seen Jase in a while, and I wanted to see how the Sheriff's Department was treating him.
I called Rosie at the station to see if Jase was in. Rosie was dimwitted and probably didn't have any business being a dispatcher. She didn't realize that I had come back from my vacation. She sounded panicked and slightly sad.
"What's up Rosie?" I asked, knowing that there was something going on.
"It's Jason." She said bursting into hysterics.
"What about Jason?" I asked panic stricken.
"He didn't report to work this morning, and Andy went out to his house and found blood out by the pond!" Rosie said wailing and sniffling into the phone. All of my instincts were screaming at me that something was wrong.
I knew that this was fishy, and that Jason had probably gotten himself into something that he had no business getting' into.
"What are they doin' to find him?" I asked almost yelling at the poor dumb girl.
"Andy is organizin' a search party, but he's just mainly been yellin' and throwin' stuff around the office. I honestly don't think that he's in any shape to organize this search." Rosie said frantically.
I hung up the phone and grabbed the keys to my rental car and drove over to Jason's house. When I arrived, I saw police tape strewn across his door and the back fence. Before I could barge through the tape, Kenya stopped me and told me that under no uncertain circumstances was I going to be allowed to walk through a crime scene.
When she said the words crime scene, coupled with the fact that Rosie said Andy had found blood, I couldn't help but double over in agony. I cried, knowing that something was wrong and fearing that my brother had been killed. He truly was all I had left, and he had searched tirelessly for me when I had disappeared, it was my duty to do the same for him. I refused to believe that he had been killed.
I ran back to my car and drove to see Sam. The tears in my eyes barely allowed me to see straight, but I couldn't care less.
By the time I got to Merlotte's to see Sam, I was nearly as hysterical as Rosie was on the phone. Sam caught me just as I was about to barge into his office.
Sam hugged me to his body and hushed me, trying his best to calm me down.
"Shh. Sookie it's alright, he's not dead, I just know it. It'll be alright, everything will work out. You'll see." Sam reassured me, but I couldn't believe him wholeheartedly.
His fiancée, Luna, leered at me. She was battling herself. She wanted to be sympathetic towards me, but she was angrier that I was taking comfort in the arms of her lover. I couldn't care less about her at the moment though.
"I have to search for him Sam, I just have to." I said desperately, crying into his plaid shirt.
"I know Sook, I will help you. I already went out to his house this afternoon and I got a lead." He declared still trying to calm me down.
"You did?" What did you find." I asked pulling out of his embrace, wiping the tears from my face. This is just one of the reasons why Sam was my best friend. He always knew exactly what I wanted and needed.
"Panther." He said, as if that one word would explain everything. It didn't. Panthers didn't live in Louisiana, in fact the closest panther population was in Florida. Either way, if it was an animal attack. Especially an animal such as a panther, Jason stood no chance of survival.
"I don't get it? There are no panthers in Louisiana." I said in frustration.
"No Sookie, WerePanthers." He said. And the look he gave me said all that I needed to know. This. Was. Bad. "They live in Hot Shot." He answered the question before I even asked.
"The meth dealers?" I asked incredulously. I was amazed that I was this naïve of my own surroundings.
"Among other things." He murmured
"We gotta get out there like now!" I said running towards the door.
"It's not that simple Sookie. They are dangerous folks, some of them even take V." What the heck was "V"? Besides that fact, I would do anything to get my brother back.
"What's V? I asked. Sam just looked at me as if I was joking him. I wasn't.
"Sook, it's been a long trying day for you. Let me call in a favor and we will go there tomorrow. I got a friend named John that owes me big time, and I know that he will help me out. By this time tomorrow Sook, we will have Jason back. Go home and rest. I will call you tomorrow." Sam said with conviction. I tried to protest a few times, but he was adamant.
I finally gave in, and went home. By the time I got there, it was fully dark, and all I wanted to do was relax and try to calm my shaky nerves.
Just as I walked in the door, my cell started vibrating indicating that I had gotten a text message from someone named Viking.
I certainly didn't know any Vikings or anyone named Viking.
Coming 2 see me 2night?
Huh? What was this? A booty call or something?
Who is this?
I replied back.
Your lover
Okay, this must be a prank, I don't have a lover, never had in fact.
Look Buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but you are NOT my lover!
This Viking person was really starting to grate on my nerves.
Buddy? Come see me 2night the club? I miss u.
I decided to ignore this person, seeing as how I had no clue on earth who he was.
I made myself a PB&J and went to take a long hot bath.
I must have fallen asleep in the tub, because when I woke up it was nearly midnight and the water had run frigid.
I pulled on my robe and went downstairs to make sure the house was locked up. Just as I was making my way to the back door, I heard a knock. I thought maybe it was news of Jason, so I didn't hesitate to open the door.
Standing before me was literally the man from my dreams. The tall blond man with the piercing blue eyes. Was this a dream?
"Good evening lover." Man from my dreams purred.
"Uh hi. Do I know you?" I stammered and maybe slightly drooled.
"Okay Sookie, this was cute at first, but it's getting quite old now. If you're mad at me about last night, then that's one thing, but playing these childish games is something that I won't do." He chided me. I felt like I should be ashamed, but I honestly didn't know who this guy was.
"I'm sorry, I feel like I should know who you are, but I… I just don't." I said confused by my own mind.
"You're not serious?...Come on Sookie, and where is your new car?" He asked me. I thought long and hard for a minute, then I remembered that I bought a new car yesterday.
"I uh, I bought a new Mustang yesterday, but when I was in Shreveport, I got into an accident." I said slowly trying to piece together the events that had happened yesterday. There were so many blank spots in my mind that I am sure that this man must think I'm a loon.
"You were in an accident? Lover are you alright?" He said as he began to rake over my body looking for evidence of damage. I must mean something to this man that he would call me lover and care about my well being so much.
"Please don't touch me. I don't know you like that. And I am just fine." I said pulling back my arm from his grasp.
"What do you mean you don't know me like that? Sookie, did you hit your head in the accident?" He asked. He was growing more and more frustrated with me and my apparent lack of memory.
"No, I don't think I hit my head. I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no idea who you are or what you are to me, but I am extremely tired and I need to go to bed." I said slightly exasperated by this tall handsome man.
"Sookie, what is wrong with you? Why don't you know me? I need to call a doctor for you, something just isn't right." He pleaded, but I ignored him.
"Goodnight mister." I said closing the door on him. He could stay on my stoop forever if he wanted to, but I was off to bed. It had been a long day and I needed to focus my attention on finding Jason.
Eric
Was she playing games with me as a form of punishment for my abhorrent treatment of her at the club? I apologized and she seemed to accept it, I know that seeing and hearing all of those women in the club last night must not have been pleasant, but she seemed to accept and understand that I had no interest in any of them.
Still, she had been a little insecure the last two days, and I'm sure the women didn't help her, but I tried to allay her fears. She was the only person in the world that I wanted, the only woman, human or otherwise, that could ever hold my attention. I would spend forever making sure that she knew that.
Why did she not know me? I had no idea that she was involved in an accident last night. I certainly didn't feel any pain coming from her. She had no physical marks on her body and her head didn't have any contusions, but her memory seemed to be affected.
I chided myself internally for not asking her more questions to see how widespread this memory loss was.
I fully intended to contact Dr. Ludwig and have her examined. In the meantime, I took the opportunity to look around her property for any clues as to why Sookie seemed to not know me. The first thing I noticed was the immense smell of magic. Magic can be a difficult scent to discern. Knowing that Sookie herself possessed fairy magic, but also knowing that the scent I was picking up did not smell like fairy magic. This was human magic…sorcery even. Had someone cast a spell on Sookie?
I pulled out my cell and called Pam. I knew that Sookie had spent the majority of her night at Fangtasia, so I wanted Pam to scour the security tapes to see if there were any clues we could pick up and I needed to find out more about this accident that my lover was involved in.
I had some work cut out for me and I needed my area investigator to help since he seemed to know about these witches that had come into town.
TBC…
A/N I was disappointed in the witch war on Sunday's episode. I mean Bill's guards had their laser pointers on Marnie, but he wouldn't let them shoot. Ugh.. Stupid King Bill…..