I was very thankful for the sunlight blinding my path ahead. I put on my sunglasses and focused again, driving as quickly as the law allowed me to. As long as the day lasted, I was safe. Eric had assured me Sophie-Anne wouldn't come. She wouldn't do anything to me as long as she was able use me as leverage. I didn't have to be afraid, Eric had told me. But I had always been a little afraid of the dark.

Eric couldn't promise he could come to see me tonight, which was very much understandable. I had thought about switching to living at night so I could spend more time with him, but then I remembered Merlotte's wasn't open the entire night and I had to earn money one way or another. Eric might let me work for Fangtasia, but working nights meant seeing him even less then I already did. He had his own life, as did I. Sooner or later we would find a way to make this entire thing work. I made a mental note to google for how to be a good girlfriend to my vampire boyfriend.

My house had never looked so inviting. It was the only thing I had to keep me safe from Sophie-Anne and others who wished me ill. Behind my door no one could hurt me as long as I didn't invite them in, and thank god vampires couldn't glamor me. Other species were able to come in of course, but I counted myself very lucky I had never ran into any trouble with werewolves, shifters, or faeries.

I let myself fall back on the couch and let out a long sigh. I had been able to get a couple of hours sleep with Eric, but my eyelids felt heavy nevertheless.

Before heading to bed, I fetched my phone out of my back pocket and found I had two missed calls and a group chat that was slowly exploding with unread messages. Oh, fuck. I had forgotten I was meeting up with my friends for coffee and do some shopping. My bed was calling me, but I couldn't ignore them as I had done so many times before already.

I opened the group chat and quickly scrolled through all the messages. They were meeting up at tiny cafe in town, and by the looks of it both Jade and Allison were already there.

Serena. Are you dead? Come over!

We have to leave in an hour, hurry!

My friends worked regular office hour jobs, which meant that their day started a lot earlier than mine usually did. Well, technically my previous day hadn't even ended yet.

Be there in 5, I texted back even though I still couldn't exactly bring myself to get up. The car ride back had given me some time to let the arrival of Sophie-Anne process, but the entire court case against this so-called Alain Martin still felt unnerving to me.

Against my wishes I pushed myself off the couch and forced myself to leave, feeling too tired to pick up my feet properly. I couldn't even be bothered to change my clothing. My friends had seen me looking worse many times before, and if anything I could just blame the early hour for my appearance.

Allison and Jade had already started on their breakfast by the time I arrived. They had saved me a croissant, which was nice, and I placed an order for a coffee by one of the waiters before I sat down.

I apologized for being late, but they were already glad that I was here and told me it was fine.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Allison asked, her brows furrowing.

"Home." I ripped a piece of my croissant and stuffed it in my mouth.

"Before that."

"Merlotte's."

"You have been seeing a guy, haven't you?" Allison said.

I stopped chewing and let my eyes meet with hers. Sometimes I wondered if Allison was also a supernatural. She always had to ability to call out a liar and she knew exactly what you had been up to.

"Maybe," I replied, downing the food with a gulp of coffee. I hadn't thought about bringing Eric up, but now things were growing serious I might as well tell them. I owed them that. They didn't need to know he is a vampire, that was just a tiny detail I would simply forget to mention.

"Oh," Jade squealed. "What is his name?"

"Eric," I stated. There were a million guys named Eric, they were never going to tie that to Eric Northman specifically.

"Tell us more," Allison said, her eyes lighting up. Boy talk was their favorite talk.

"Uh." I was struggling to find the words. It was hard to describe him without giving away that he was a vampire, so I decided to focus less on appearance and more on ambiguous characteristics. "He's tall, and he's not from the United States. We met in New Orleans. Uh… he is from Sweden."

That wasn't a lie, technically.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner!"

They completely bought into the lie and knew when to stop asking questions. I had always been pretty closed about my romantic endeavors and was grateful that they understood.

When I finally got home again I didn't feel as tired anymore. Even though the caffeine was running through my veins, I decided to take a quick nap and spend the rest of the afternoon in the lake behind my house. As always, I was very careful before turning, making sure no one was near when my legs glued together and transformed into a large tail.

The water recharged me better than coffee ever could. It was an instant cure. My mood was lifted, and Eric was on my mind again. A vampire and a mermaid. Who would've ever thought? But so far, we managed to make it work. Sophie-Anne was wrong. Vampires and other species can mix… right?

Sophie-Anne. There she was again. For so long I had managed to almost forget her. She had always been there, in the back of my memory, but I was always able to suppress her. If I ignored the problem, then it would surely go away. Except that it didn't. The problem was back. Sophie-Anne was back and I regretted the fact that she still held so much influence over me.

I went back into the house, drying my hair in a towel I brought along. Now Sophie-Anne had come out of memory back into reality, I decided there was no point in suppressing her any further. I moved in front of my bookcase, kneeling down on the ground. Row for row I started to pull out books, hoping to find what I'm looking for.

My fingers hit something that felt familiar. The green binding was old and weathered. The book had been traveling with me for some time now and I could never bring myself to put the photos in a different book. This one felt so sentimental. Nostalgic, even.

I held my breath as I opened the book. Even though I hadn't look at any of the photo's for many, many years, I still remembered exactly where I had to look.

Pages and pages of photos flew past. All of me at different ages. I didn't have pictures of me as a child, so the book started when I was a teenager and was far too reckless with getting my pictures taken. I blamed it on the fact that it was a new technology and highly exciting. Back in the day, photography was an expensive thing, and when they gradually became more affordable everyone started snapping pictures of everything they could. I wasn't much different.

I had longer hair when I was young, but I always kept it up in a high ponytail or rolled into loops that framed my face. Women put much more effort in their appearance then, but I didn't miss it. At least I now had rights as a woman and if that meant sacrificing elaborate hairdo's—then so be it.

Finally I hit the photo I was looking for. It was taken at night, and very badly lit. The photo had been fading over time, but I could just make out two figures. Two young women, both impeccably dressed in soft silk gowns with high heels. For the time being, they were dressed provocatively, but that wouldn't surprise anyone now knowing who they were. Sophie-Anne was clearly recognizable, seemingly as she dressed very similar today. I, on the other hand. looked unrecognizable.

It was the only photograph of us two together, as far as my knowledge reached. It was a beautiful picture, and I wished it wasn't fading. I immediately grabbed my iPhone and quickly took a photo of it, at least preserving the state it was in now. It was the only thing tying me to Sophie-Anne, but I couldn't bring myself to destroy it.

As I still held my phone in my hand the screen started to light up as it began to vibrate at the same time. The screen read Merlotte's. Even though my body had recovered from my swim and I wasn't feeling that tired anymore, I didn't feel like coming into work at all and considered not picking it up. But then I remembered everything I put Sam through and I couldn't ignore him. I owed him. Big time.

"This is Serena," I said, after sliding to unlock my phone.

"Serena, I think you need to come over," Sam said. Even though I couldn't see him, I could hear there was something off about his voice, something I couldn't necessarily place.

"Did Louise call in sick again?" I tried, deep down hoping it was just that and nothing worse. Although it was probably something worse. It always was.

"Uh, not exactly," Sam replied. "There is a vampire in here waiting to speak with you."

"But it's li—." It wasn't until then that my eyes fell on the window and I noticed it was dark outside. I had been staring at these pictures for a long time and completely forgotten that time was passing. How long had I sat there on the ground reminiscing the past? I hadn't even had dinner yet, or lunch for that matter.

"What vampire?" I said, my voice breaking ever so slightly.

I doubted it was Eric, who would never go to Merlotte's to look for me without checking my house first. Pam? No, she would've called me personally. Sophie-Anne wouldn't be caught dead in a town like Bon Temps and I figured she had more important stuff on her mind right now, although she had always been unpredictable.

"A man. I have never seen him before. He told me he needed to speak with you. He added a firm now."

"Did he say something about Eric? A vampire named Sophie-Anne?"

"Nope," Sam said. "But, Serena, I suggest you get over here fast. People are starting to get nervous."

While still on the phone I began to run upstairs, dropping my robe midway and began to pull on something as fast as I could. My hair was still wet, but I would have to do.

"I'm on my way," I said, already out of breath.

A/N: Thank you all again for the support! I hope you had a nice Easter and I will see you next time :)