Here is a new chapter. As for why it has been so long, well I have no excuse. I simply lost all inspiration. So when my computer died with the partial chapters on it a couple years ago I decided to give up working on these stories. But here I am, with a new chapter and the next nearly done. For now I am back to writing. I can't promise it will last, but I am going to try to finish this story.

I woke up the next morning and had just started looking through my cabinets for breakfast when Andy Bellefleur called to tell me I could reopen Merlotte's. By the time I walked into the back door of the restaurant and started a mental to- do list, Sam came walking in.

He gave me a hug, thanking me for everything, and then plopped down into the chair behind his desk. Instead of jumping right into all the things that had to be done I asked how things were. He told me his mother was home now and healing but seemed a little vague in the details. Thinking maybe he wasn't ready to talk about it just yet I didn't pry. I decided to change subject to the restaurant. I showed him the list I made of things that needed his attention and the temporary solution I had worked out with Tanya and Amelia to cover Arlene's shifts. We talked a bit about how business had been while he was away and why we were closed yesterday. Once we talked through Crystal's murder and my visit from the feds I told him about the knife.

"Well good for you Sookie, thinking for yourself for once."

I was slightly offended at the way he said 'for once' but let it slide because he was obviously still stressed about his family situation and I didn't want to start an argument. "I don't know about 'good' Sam. Eric had a good solution to keep me from becoming the newest resident of Felipe's castle. Whether or not it was the best solution I don't know. But I didn't buy in. It's not that I necessarily regret making my own decision; but now, I have to work on my own solution."

"Don't worry Sook, you'll figure it out" he said looking carefully at my list. "Listen, take today off. I can handle it here and you look like you could use a break."

I was going to go straight home, but my car somehow led me to Tara's Togs. One look at me and the first thing she said was "spill." So, I spilt my guts. She was the supportive friend she's always been and helped me put things into perspective. I told her about the takeover and the previous night at Fangtasia and everything else on my mind. I told her why I was upset and disappointed in both Quinn and Eric and my romantic dilemmas with each.

"Sookie, it sounds like you have two guys that really care about you that have both made some poor decisions" Tara pointed out. "The question is which decisions are forgivable and which aren't. Eric brought a hostile vampire takeover to your doorstep and attempted to force you into a vampire marriage of some sort, but it sounds like he is mostly trying to protect you; though he has been as you say 'high-handed' in doing that. Quinn kept things from you, but from what you say only by omission. He never lied or deceived you. So maybe he really did want to tell you about the takeover. He did send his sister."

With everything supernatural going on lately it was good to talk to an outsider. Her perspective really gave me a few things to think about. We spent well over an hour talking about my life and then she told me the news that she and JB were expecting a baby. I tried to reassure her that she would be a great mother since she was so worried. She had a horrible childhood herself, but I could see she was determined to give her child everything she had lived without; especially love.

After we talked, I went home. Pulling up in the driveway I immediately noticed an older Buick parked near the front door. I parked around back and scanned the house mentally as I walked in. Octavia and a large well-dressed man covered in tattoos were toting boxes out of her room.

She stopped like a deer in the headlights when she saw me.

"You're moving out."

I wasn't mad. On the contrary, she was so happy it was contagious. The contentment flowed out of her brain and I could tell whoever this was, he was the person she wanted to be with.

"Sookie, this is Louis. We lost contact with each other during Katrina. He has been looking for me since then and called after you left this morning."

The three of them spent a couple minutes working on the wards surrounding our home once they were done loading Louis' car. Octavia insisted that we couldn't be too careful, after all here was no way to know who killed Crystal or why; and she had been carrying my brother's child. They were gone within an hour of my arrival, but not before Amelia gave them a gift she claimed was from the two of us.

I was happy that it was just me and Amelia again. Amelia was too. No matter how happy she was for Octavia, and she was, what she was really excited about was no longer living under the watchful and constant eye of her mentor. The tension that had existed in the house seemed to leave out the same door Octavia did. It felt like it had before she came into our home again.

We made a late lunch and ate while we talked about Crystal's murder. Amelia was helping with the dinner rush at the bar, so she got dressed and left around 3. The day was so nice and warm that I decided to spend a little time working on the flower beds. I got dressed in a tank top so I could get a little sun and headed outside. I got my grandma's garden trowel out of the shed and got to work. I didn't enjoy gardening nearly as much as my Gran had, and the flower beds reflected their need for attention.

I had been working for a while and had a light sweat and visible improvement to the flower bed to show for my efforts when I heard a bit of gravel crunch behind me. I paused for just long enough to hear the whispered words "I will enjoy killing you" from just over my shoulder. I whirled around stabbing the trowel upward without a second thought.

I had never seen a knife slide into someone as easily as that old trowel slid into his stomach. I jumped back into a crouch and watched his face, waiting for his attack, but he just looked down at the blood seeping out of his abdomen then up at me in surprise several times before he collapsed.

Then, I panicked.

After I was assured by whoever answered his phone that Niall would come immediately I just watched the dead body lie there, half in the flower bed, the other half in the driveway. I never did anything to this man and he had come with every intention of killing me. I couldn't understand it. I barely noticed that Niall had emerged from the forest behind my home before he was standing over the body with another man. Since I was no longer the only sole on my property, I cautiously walked out my back door and joined them. My great-grandfather held an arm out as I approached which I ducked under and leaned against his side. When I finally looked up at him he was smiling. I'm sure I looked perplexed.

"You killed our enemy. You are a credit to our family." He was proud.

His companion, Dillon, couldn't believe it. He said again, as if the three times on the phone were not enough, "she killed a fairy" in wonderment. I noted in his features that he favored Claude and Claudine, though not in hair or eye color, so I guessed this was their father; Niall kept calling him 'son.' Dillon couldn't seem to understand how a simple human could defeat someone as powerful as a fairy.

Niall on the other hand, asked "how did you do it?" rather than balk at me. I explained as I showed him my trowel that he had snuck up on me but I got lucky and stabbed backward when I heard him. If he hadn't spoken he might have gotten a lot more enjoyment out of the afternoon. After consoling me about killing this family enemy they left, warning me again to be careful. They said he was not the only one, and left me to hose the fairy dust that used to be Murray into my lawn. I was going to have to call Claudine; after all she was my fairy godmother, hopefully she could give me some guidance.

I went back inside to clean my grandmother's trowel and then change out of my blood spattered shirt. I scrubbed the trowel three times before I gave up and left it next to the sink. I wasn't sure it would ever be clean enough for me again. I went to my bedroom to put on a new shirt, but while I was standing in front of my dresser I eyed my bathroom. I decided to shower off the horrible feeling that was still in the pit of my stomach. I stayed in the shower for a long time; just letting the water wash away the last couple days stress from my body. I was finally getting out of the shower, pruney, but in slightly better spirits, when I heard the phone ringing. I threw on my robe and ran to the kitchen to answer it.

"Sookie!" exclaimed Claudine as soon as I said 'hello.' "Grandfather told me what happened. I am just getting off work, can I pop in a little later?" I could hear the concern in her voice. After I assured her I would love the company and told her she should stay for dinner, and accepted her profuse apologies that she couldn't get here when Niall did, I hung up.

I dressed quickly in pajama pants and a tank top and wrapped my hair in a towel. I knew I only had a little while before she would get here so I needed to hurry. I started looking for something to cook for dinner. If she had been at work all day, she probably had to get her lunch from the mall's food court so I knew she would appreciate a good meal. And since Amelia would want something to eat after her shift at Merlotte's, and possibly Tray as well, I needed to make plenty. Since the only meat that I had defrosted was a family pack of chicken breasts I decided on chicken and waffles.

I had just put the second batch of fried chicken in my dutch oven when I heard the crunch of a car on gravel driving around the side of the house. It seemed too soon for it to be Claudine since she hadn't even gotten home to change from work when she called. I kind of assumed she would 'pop' over anyway. At least it was someone I knew if they had come around back. I hurriedly pulled the third waffle out of the waffle maker and checked the chicken in the oil so I could get the door. It wasn't quite ready to turn yet.

As I walked to the door I mentally scanned who was walking up the steps to the back porch. Quinn. I was suddenly self-conscious of my attire. I knew he could hear me in the kitchen; after all, all supes had exceptional hearing, so there wasn't time to run to my bedroom and change. I pulled back the curtain, and looked through the glass. I looked out and just as I thought, I was eye to eye, or more accurately eye to chest, with my ex-boyfriend, Quinn. I took a deep breath and opened the door.