Okay, so as I wrote this I realized there is at least another chapter or two…I just can't give it up so fast. You will see in this chapter I am a sucker for detail and it just can't be rushed for me. So review and let me know you aren't getting sick and tired of me changing my mind constantly.

Thanks for reading everyone and happy Tuesday morning!

Chapter 71: Fortune Teller

Sookie

Eric watched as Sookie stepped into the clothing. Scant clothing. If they didn't have somewhere to be, he would take her again. She shrugged into the top. It was perfect. He didn't like that others would be seeing so much of his bonded, but it would have to be this way.

Eric wouldn't be leaving her side the entire night.

She turned to Eric, crossing her arms over as much of her cleavage and bare midsection as she could. Nervousness and self-consciousness were coming off of her in waves. She moved to grab a silk robe off a hook, and covered herself up.

Eric smiled. If she was trying to cover herself in front of him, how was she going to get through the rest of the night in front of so many others?

"I look like some kind of gypsy. What is the angle here?" she asked, growing agitated and nervous.

"That is exactly how we want you to look. Sookie, if you claim yourself a psychic or a mystique then it automatically will discredit you. Humans have no imagination. It is how vampires were able to remain undetected until we wanted our presence known. Shifters and werewolves still walk among humans undetected. If you saw someone dressed like you and claiming what you are, wouldn't you be skeptical and label them as slightly insane?" he asked

Sookie looked down at herself and shrugged, "I guess, but how can you be sure?"

He said, "It's our best shot Sookie. And we have nothing to lose if it doesn't work, which you will be able to telepathically hear if it doesn't. No matter what happens, they won't have you. I will not allow it."

"What if there is a trap?" she asked, and he felt her anxiety begin to climb. "What if they silver you and Pam?" she asked, her voice quivering.

Her eyes filled with tears that spilled over and ran down her cheeks. It hit Eric like a silver bullet. She was not even worried about herself anymore. Sookie was worried about Eric. And Pam. She worried for the people that she loved in her life being taken from her.

"Sookie, they are coming for you. Not me. Not Pam. How can they even plan a trap when they are coming to my bar?" he asked gently, walking toward her and pulling the arms clenched over herself away.

"You must be brave, min kärlek," he continued as he cupped her face in his hands, gently wiping the tears away with his thumbs.

She turned her face toward his palm and kissed it. "What if they try and hurt you to get to me? You can't be sure," she said.

"They won't. You think I can't handle some humans?" he scoffed.

"You couldn't handle me," she reminded him with a small, watery smile.

"Ah, may I remind you that even though you were particularly hard to handle, I do believe I succeeded. You are mine, are you not?" he said.

She smiled and closed her eyes and she walked towards him, circling her arms around his waist as he hugged her to him.

"Everything will be fine Sookie. You have to trust me."

Sookie looked into his face and nodded, "I do."

Pam walked in and shooed Eric away from Sookie. He released her enough for Pam to see a covered up Sookie.

Pam grabbed for the robe and pulled it away from her. Sookie blushed furiously as Pam's fangs ran down a bit as she took her in. "Sookie, you should wear this every day," she purred.

Sookie

Sookie was mortified about the outfit Pam had put her in. She looked like a gypsy whore. She was wearing a bright red floor length skirt that flowed to the ground. It had multicolor red, green, clear, blue and yellow jewels that made clicking sounds every time they knocked together as Sookie moved.

On her top she wore a snug bra-like crop top. It was nude in color, but it sparkled brilliantly. Sookie looked at herself in the mirror. On the gauzy fabric was strategically placed multicolored gems that matched her skirt.

It reminded her of Jennifer Lopez's risqué nude colored outfit she performed in at the AMA awards one year. Sookie's wasn't as risqué, but it was very provocative and there was the required mystical element Pam and Eric were looking for. Sookie had to admit that it was something she thought she would see at a carnival in a fortune teller's tent.

Pam was smiling at her in approval and guided Sookie to her vanity. She blew towel dried Sookie's hair until it was almost completely dry and then put in the curling mousse, encouraging the loose curls that Sookie had naturally.

She began twisting Sookie's hair into a messy curled bun that rested high on the crown of her head. Pam then walked over to the accessory island, where there were four drawers filled with amazing jewelry.

She spent some time going through Sookie's options and finally grabbed some selections she thought would do.

As Pam styled Sookie, Sookie held Eric's gaze in the mirror, only occasionally glancing at what Pam was doing.

Pam wrapped a bejeweled length of chain that sparkled around Sookie's head, resting snuggly against the curls. It looked as if the chain was having troubled containing them. She then grabbed a pair of diamond dangly earrings and poked them in her ears.

She placed multicolor bangles on the vanity in front of Sookie. She then placed a platinum gold chain around her neck with the E on it. Sookie gasped and touched the pendant. "How did you…?" she asked.

"I had another one identical to your old one made," Pam explained in a soft voice.

Eric was beaming at Sookie and Pam in the reflection of the mirror and they both smiled back at him.

Sookie turned to Pam and grabbed her hand. "Thank you, Pam."

Pam only nodded, and then got back to work, pulling the makeup forward that she would be using on Sookie.

"Pam we need to be quick," Eric warned.

Pam nodded and said, "Fine, then you can help. Take this and do what you can," she ordered, handing him a box and a bowl.

He looked at it and nodded, leaving quickly before Sookie could figure out what it was.

When he returned he had the bowl, but the box was missing. He was also dressed in his usual Fangtasia attire. He sat in front of Sookie and placed the bowl down on the vanity.

He grabbed her hand and then a paint brush. "What are you doin'?" she asked.

"It's henna. It will help you look more authentic. I will be painting on your skin, but don't worry. It isn't permanent."

She nodded and held her hand as he focused on his task.

The smelly, green goop was cold and Sookie shivered once he began. Sookie was glancing between Eric and Pam as they worked and then decided she also needed to focus. She needed to get 'in character' as they say in show business.

She needed to summon all her chutzpa and cheek and become a flighty mystic. An unbelievable one at that. She thought about all the quacks she had encountered. There were many. She had gone to New Orleans with Tara and Lafayette once on a school trip and went to the legendary French Quarter, where men and women all claimed to be the modern Marie Laveau. Most of them were con artists, but there were some that may have held genuine talent in magick, specifically the Voudoun or Voodoo arts.

To be honest, these individuals had scared Sookie and she would point Lafayette and Tara to the fakes instead of the ones who might have had talent. She just didn't like being messed with.

Now Sookie drew on both types of the French Quarters mystics and tried to merge the two for the character she would be playing tonight. It was hard and the two just didn't want to mesh.

All too soon, Pam said, "Finished."

Sookie's eyes snapped open and gasped as she saw Pam's work. She was elaborately made up. Her eyes were amazingly dramatic with gold and green shadows mixing beautifully. There was thick eyeliner that swirled out long after her eyelid ended.

Between her eyes was a sapphire blue jewel that Sookie remembered being called a bindi. "Oh my stars," she gasped out, turning her head side to side, looking at Pam's work.

Eric said, "Me too. Done."

Sookie looked down at her hands and forearms. They were covered in the goop but it was now dried. Sookie looked up at Eric as he walked back in with wet paper towels and gently removed the goop.

Below it was the most intricately patterned golden swirls staining her hands and arms. She looked at Eric and Pam and then back down at her hands.

"How did you know how to do this?" she asked Eric.

"I have been many places and learned many things in one thousand years, lover," he said as he pitched the bowl and the towels in the trash.

Pam slid the bangles on Sookie's hands and then grabbed Sookie's feet. She slipped something on her middle toe and Sookie noticed it was some kind of necklace for her feet.

"What are those?" Sookie asked.

"You've never seen barefoot sandals?" Pam asked, incredulous.

"Uh no," Sookie responded like a dope.

"They are supposed to decorate a barefoot in place of a shoe. Hence, barefoot sandal. You are going barefoot tonight to complete the look that you are a nut," Pam replied flippantly.

Sookie nodded and stood.

She walked the mirror and gasped at the Sookie that was staring back at her.

"Oh my stars," she whispered.

"It's perfect," Pam said coming up behind her.

Eric walked to her side and grabbed her bangled and stained hand. "You can do this Sookie," he encouraged with a squeeze of her hand.

She looked to Pam and Eric and nodded. She squared her shoulders as she looked in the mirror. She could and would do this. If this meant protecting the people that she loved she could do anything.

"Well then we are ready to go," he said.

Up next: the meeting! So do you all think their plan will work?