All Hell Breaks Loose

Chapter 46: Alice's Restaurant

It was nice to have a full house for Thanksgiving and there was even an extra guest in the form of Hailey. Eric had called back Pam and while Pam was spending the holiday with the other vampires he had asked Sookie if Hailey could spend it with her. The more the merrier and everyone had asked if they could do something to help out with dinner. Sookie had put the turkey into the oven before she made breakfast of French Toast with sausages and scrambled eggs.

"Did Claude say he was coming?" Jason asked while he was peeling potatoes with Hailey.

"He said he will be here," Sookie answered. She was in the middle of making the dough for the rolls. "He said he was bringing the wine. I have no idea when he will be here."

"What about those others?" Tara asked. She and Lafayette were helping with the nibble plates. Tara was slicing vegetables and Lafayette was assembling the cheese and cracker plate.

"Soon," Sookie said. "They do tend to sleep in. They also said they were bringing extra desserts that Anya baked the night before."

"I'm not sure if I can handle anything a vampire bakes," Tara said as she set up the sliced carrots and celery. "Jason, you got any ranch?"

"In the fridge," Jason answered. "And don't knock it till you try it. Anya should have her own show on the Food Network."

"That good, hooker?" Lafayette asked.

"Oh yeah," Jason said and nodded.

"I hope to get to try some of her cooking," Hailey said and set another skinless potato down. "Are you going to boil them whole?"

"They cook faster when they are cut up," Sookie said. "If you two want to get a jump on will be appreciated."

"What about the skins?" Hailey asked.

"I'll throw them away," Jason offered.

"Oh I thought you would want to mix them in after the taters are mashed."

"Gran did like to mix in the skins," Sookie said and remembered how good Gran's mashed potatoes were. "We'll use the skins."

"What I want to know is what's your deal?" Lafayette said and pointed at Hailey. "You been with dat bitch Pam for a whiles. You her lover?"

"No," Hailey said and blushed. "And Pam really isn't a bitch. She just gets bored with human stuff."

There was a knock at the door and Tara announced that she would answer it.

"Why would a vampire want to take you on vacation then?" Lafayette asked.

"That ain't your business, bitch," Tara shouted at him before the creak of the door opening was heard. "Hello and welcome to the Stackhouse residence. You must be Cassidy and Lawrence. Come on in."

"That bitch aint calling me a bitch," Lafayette said under breath.

"I agree with Tara," Sookie said and placed the dough onto a floured piece of wax paper. "If she isn't comfortable telling everyone then she doesn't have to." She squished and punched and kneaded the dough.

"You can put those in the fridge," Tara said as she led the two guests into the kitchen.

"Is that a cake?" Jason asked in a hopeful tone when he saw the round dessert in a large round plastic case.

"Yes and it's chocolate," Lawrence said with a huge grin.

"Even better," Jason said.

"I love chocolate," Hailey added.

"Also brought a peach cobbler," Cassidy said as she and Lawrence put the desserts in the fridge. "I always wanted to try that." She pointed at Sookie. "I bet it's like working with clay."

"Except these should taste better," Sookie said. She washed her hands and used some oil to grease a bowl. "I have to let this relax for an hour and give it time to rise." She put the dough in bowl and covered it with a cloth. "Jason, how are the potatoes?"

"All peeled and sliced," Jason said.

"Put them in the large pot with hot water and then stick it on the stove." She stepped far away from the sink to give her brother room and after he placed the pot on the stove she turned it on.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Hailey asked.

"Right now we can just relax, watch the last of the parade and help yourselves to the nibble plates."

"Nibble plates?" Lawrence asked and raised his brows.

"Plates with crackers and cheese, vegetables, and olives and pickles," Sookie explained. "Light stuff to snack on until the main course is done."

"I figured as much, just wanted to clarify," Lawrence said as they all went to the living room.

Claude had arrived after Sookie had put the rolls into the oven and gave the turkey another basting.

"It seems that I am a bit over dressed," Claude said. He wasn't wearing a suit nor was he as casual as the others. He had donned a pair of corduroys, a button down cotton polo and a light jacket.

"No you are fine," Sookie said and accepted the bottles from him. He had brought both a white and a red wine.

"The white is best served cold," Claude instructed. "The red is best at room temperature."

"Thank you," Sookie said and put the white in the fridge and the red on the counter. "I need to start making the pie."

"Anything I can do to help?" Jason asked.

"I need the husks off the corns," Sookie said as she thought of what else needs to be done. "The string beans need to be cleaned." She put in the ingredients into the bowl. She used a can of pumpkin puree. Gran would buy a whole pumpkin and clean it out and puree what was left on her own. She had insisted that all that extra effort made it taste real good. Sookie just did not have the time.

"You don't have any fresh lemons in the house do you?" Hailey asked. She had transferred the potatoes to a bowl and was mashing them.

"I usually don't put lemon juice in mashed potatoes, or even potato salad."

"Lemons are like poison to faeries," Hailey explained. "Like mint is with my mother's family."

"I had no idea." Sookie had to stop and think about the rest of the meal. No she didn't use lemon anything in any other food. "No lemons were used at all. Thank you for letting me know."

"Anytime."

Sookie poured in the contents into crust while Lafayette cleaned the beans and Tara and Jason removed the husks from the corn. The rolls were almost done and even when the corn and the beans would be done there would be a good chance that the turkey would still be cooking.

"You making that casserole, Sook?" Lafayette asked.

"No casseroles," Sookie answered knowing that he meant the green bean casserole that involved both cream of mushroom soup and French fried onions. "I do that at Christmas along with sweet potatoes and mashed turnips. I'm going to sauté them."

"Sauté them?" Lafayette asked and placed his hands on his hips. "Should have mentioned that sooner. I'll be happy to sauté them."

"You don't have to do that," Sookie said.

"Am I the master of the skillet or am I the master of the skillet?"

"You are the master of the skillet without a doubt." She watched as Lafayette grabbed a few things from her fridge in order to prepare.

"I don't mind boiling the corn for you," Tara said while she and Jason continued to rip of the husks.

"Thank you everyone," Sookie said. She removed the rolls from the oven. She had baked them in a muffin pan since Jason loves rolls when they come in muffin form and placed the pie inside. "Oh crap."

"What?" Several people answered at once.

"I forgot to make the stuffing."

"Is it in a box?" Lawrence asked.

"Yes it is but-"

"Say no more I can make the stuff that comes in boxes."

Sookie shrugged. This was what Thanksgiving was about; Friends and family getting together, helping each other and enjoying a good meal. She just wished Eric was with her.

The turkey did take longer to cook that Sookie expected but in the end she did not care about that small aspect. Her main concern was how it tasted and if everyone was going to like it.

"Now this is a turkey dinner," Lawrence said after swallowing another bite. "You and Anya should get together on the next meal."

"I can't take all the credit," Sookie said while she picked up her wine glass. "I had a lot of help."

"So you are a whole fairy?" Cassidy asked and pointed at Claude. "I should have guessed seeing how handsome you are."

"Thank you for the compliment," Claude said. "And thank you Sookie for inviting me for dinner."

"You are family." She wished she could have invited Hadley and Hunter and would have if she knew where they were.

"So how many are out there?" Jason asked. "I've come across vampires, shape shifters, maenads, werewolves, werepanthers, and faries."

"Succubae and incubi are real," Hailey spoke up. "My mama is a succubus."

"No shit?" Tara asked. "You don't seem like one."

"Cause I don't act slutty?" Hailey asked.

"No cause you don't got wings or horns or any of that," Tara said.

"Not in my present state," Hailey said. "I can shift, but not fully since I'm half human."

"What else?" Jason asked in the tone that reminded Sookie of when they were younger and they looked for presents under the Christmas Tree. "I mean is there anything else that we thought were not real, but are."

"There are elves," Claude answered. "They are not related to us. There are selkies and they are more related to the shifter community than the fairy community."

"Think wereseals," Cassidy explained. "Thought to be a type of fairy but everyone got it wrong." She nodded to Claude.

"There are also zombies and ghouls, kitsunes, tengus and kappas."

"What about those green monsters near the border?" Jason asked. "They ones that kill goats."

"Chupacabra's?" Tara asked.

"Yeah those, are they real?"

"I have not cross paths with one of them," Claude said and shrugged. "But they might be real."

"And is Santa real?" Jason asked.

"There was a Saint Nicholas," Claude said. "He kept a few Krampus as pets. Those were often mistaken for hobgoblins due to their furry bodies, but they still exist make mischief and if they encounter truly naughty children they would be punished."

"Punished how?" Lafayette asked. "They weren't eaten were they?"

"Spanked with a whip and ordered to clean the entire house, even though sometimes that caused even bigger messes.

Sookie felt her phone vibrate and felt like she needed to step away from the conversation. "My phone's going off. Is it all right if-"

"Go on sis," Jason said.

Sookie ran into the kitchen and saw the number was from Alcide. "Hello Alcide? Happy Thanksgiving."

"Sookie," Alcide answered. He sounded excited. "I just got the news. Russell had a sent a few packs of his wolves to kill the ones in Dallas."

A/N: Yeah I know, way to kill the mood there at the end.

My family always did the nibble plates and everyone helped out in the cooking. One year my brother peeled the entire bag of potatoes and they do taste better with the skins on.

The title of this chapter is the name of one of the longest songs ever and the one they play only on Thanksgiving down here.

Big thank you to all my reviewers and lots and lots of Kudos to you. I wish I could send you all some Kudos bars since they are yummy.