The next morning Hex woke up a little later than usual before heading down and joining Gran and Sookie at the kitchen table, just in time to hear the end of the discussion they were watching on TV between Reverend Newlin and Nan Flanagan. To Hex, Reverend Newlin was acting like a spoilt child while Nan Flanagan was handling the whole thing rather well. "I don't think Jesus would mind if somebody was a vampire" Sookie said as Hex sat down and Gran came into the kitchen. Hex nodded, it being still far too early for her to bother with proper speech. "I don't either, honey" Gran said after greeting Hex with a warm smile. Sookie had already told Hex about everything that had happened with Bill last night. Hex had dutifully played the clueless friend, not giving Sookie any indication that she already knew about the whole thing.
Sookie took a bite out of her sausage and scrunched up her nose thoughtfully. It's the vampire blood you had last night. It enhances your senses. Hex explained before Sookie could comment on the strange taste. Sookie gave Hex another thoughtful look before nodding at her. How do you know that? Sookie asked. I've been around and done some research on vampires after they 'came out of the coffin'. Hex replied quite easily. Sookie nodded again before turning her attention to the front door as it opened and Tara came in. Both Hex and Sookie had taken to talking to each other mentally a lot more recently.
"Hey, Miss Stackhouse" Tara said, going over to pour herself a cup of coffee only to be chased away by Gran who insisted on making a new pot. "Hey Hex, nice to see ya again" Tara said tiredly as she plopped down on a chair at the table. Hex waved cheerily in greeting, seeing as her moth was full. "You look awful" Sookie commented once she got a good look at Tara's appearance. "Yeah… and I feel even worse" Tara sad. Hex gave Tara a sympathetic glance before concentrating on her meal and tuning out the rest of the conversation, something she might have been doing a little too often lately, but wasn't really bothered to care about.
After some time Jason came in, asking if he was late for breakfast. After a little chat between Sookie, Jason and Tara, Gran came rushing in. "You will never believe what happened! Oh Hey! Jason" Gran exclaimed. "What happened?" Hex asked before anything else could be said, wanting to hurry things along. She had forgotten about the so called tornado and that they were supposed hop. "Well, apparently, a tornado touched down over at Four Tracks Corners. It turned over that rent trailer in the clearing. You know the one?" Gran asked the group as a whole "Uh huh" Sookie said as Hex nodded. "Oh... and it killed that couple that's been staying in there" Gran gasped.
"Mack and Denise Rattray?!" Jason asked. The idiots. Hex mentally corrected him. "They were trapped under the trailer. Mike Spencer said they were crushed to a pulp" Gran confirmed. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Hex asked Sookie. If you're thinkin' of goin' out there and checkin' it out, then yeah. Sookie replied. Hex nodded at her and the two women excused themselves from the table and headed out to Sookie's car.
"I'm happy to have someone like you to talk to" Sookie said as they got into the car. "What do you mean?" Hex asked as she fastened her seatbelt in the passenger's seat. "Well, I can talk to you about practically anythin' anytime. About my abilities, about Bill, about anythin' really. It's just great to have someone that understands and I feel like I can trust you with everythin'" Sookie explained as she turned the motor on and drove down onto the road. "I like talking to you too, but I'll be honest with you and say that there are some things I can't tell you about quite yet. I'll tell you what you need to know when you need to know it, but for my own safety and yours, I can't tell you everything. I hope you can still trust me to keep you safe" Hex explained, to which Sookie nodded in understanding with a thoughtful frown.
"How bad do you think the place will be?" Sookie asked, changing topics as they drove along. "Honestly? I think it might be quite a mess given that it's supposed to look like a tornado hit, which we both know isn't the case. Let's just hope your vampire friend thought about the fact that tornados hop" Hex said as they arrived at the clearing. The two women got out and ducked under the crime scene tape. Soon a van pulls up and two men exit. Hex immediately recognises one as the Sheriff and the other as the coroner, but couldn't quite remember their names. Didn't the coroner's name start with an M? Mick…Muck…Mac…? No, she couldn't remember.
"Ah, you must be the new girl in town. Alexis, right? Or do you prefer Hex? I'm Sheriff Bud Dearborne" the sheriff said, holding out his hand in greeting once the men had reached them. "Pleasure" Hex said as she shook his hand. "You know, I've never actually seen any ID of yours" the sheriff said. Hex smiled as she pulled her psychic paper out of her trousers pocket and showed it to the sheriff who stiffened somewhat as he skimmed the paper and then gave Hex an obviously fake smile while nodding. "Well! Sookie Stackhouse! What are you doing here?" the coroner man asked. "Sookie, Hex… this is Mike Spencer" Bud introduced as Hex looked at the paper to see what it read. Oh, now that is interesting. Government employee it says. He probably thinks I can get him promoted or get him into trouble. One of the two's probably it.
"Of course! You buried my parents!" Sookie exclaimed. Hex mentally sent Sookie waves of comfort, something she had learnt to do back in the Harry Potter universe. Sookie had told Hex the story behind her parents' death and about her childhood in general, and like a good friend, Hex had listened quietly and given both mental and physical comfort. Back then, Hex also had to explain about her ability to send said mental comfort.
Sookie gave Hex a grateful smile for the comfort before turning back to the two men in front of her. "Yep! My new job… parish coroner, but I still run the funeral home" Mike said. "Well! That's gotta be convenient" Sookie exclaimed with obviously fake enthusiasm. "Sookie, Hex, this is still a restricted crime scene. Why are you here?" Bud asked. "How is it a crime scene when it's supposed to be a tornado?" Hex questioned before Sookie could come up with her lame excuse. "You know, I did hear you two weren't too fond of the Rattrays" Bud said, ignoring the question completely.
"Where'd you hear that?" Sookie asked. Hex thought about giving the answer to freak Bud out but thought it better to not freak out the sheriff of a new town within the first week. "My niece is the emergency room nurse in Monroe. Says people busted up old Mack pretty bad last night" Bud said, hinting at the obvious. "Everybody says those people were you!" Mike exclaimed, causing Hex to roll her eyes at his stupidity. How can someone be so stupid. He probably lowers the IQ of the whole town by breathing. Stupid people bother me. Hex thought, realising that she was channelling her inner Sherlock by the end of her inner rant. "Well, they were hurtin' a friend of ours!" Sookie defended.
"This be that vampire I been hearing about? The one who is livin' at the old Compton house?" Bud asked. "The old Compton house? Just across the field from where I live?" Sookie questioned, looking a little startled at this new information. "That's the one" Bud replied. "Your grandmorther lets you associate with a vampire?" Mike questioned, causing Hex to wince internally. You just made one hell of a mistake dud. And sure enough, Sookie exploded at the stupid man. "You can take that up with her, Mike Spencer! I'm sure she'd just love to know that somebody thinks she's not taking proper care of me!" Sookie nearly shouted at the stupid man. Yes, that's my new nickname for him.
"The Rattrays were draining him. Draining vampires is against the law, isn't it? We were simply doing our civic duty by stopping them" Sookie argued. "And now they're dead!" Bud exclaimed. "Yeah… killed by a tornado" Hex said. "Tornadoes hop! This one didn't land anywhere else. And nobody around here heard or saw anything like a tornado last night" Bud hesitantly explained, throwing Hex a nervous glance as if she were about to kill him for it. "Are you telling me you seriously think one man could do all this?" Sookie questioned them. "He's not a man" Mike said, earning a smack from Hex. "Rude!" was all Hex said to it. Yup, she still did that, and Bud looked too afraid of her to say anything about it.
Sookie almost burst out laughing at that. "They're really not that different from you and me, if you bothered to try to get to know one…" Sookie tried, only to be cut off by Bud who said "Sookie! You're a good girl. I hate to see you go down this path." Hex raised an eyebrow at Bud. "Well, lucky for you, Sheriff Dearborne, nobody's forcing you to watch! Now, if y'all two rednecks will excuse us, we've gotta go!" Sooky said, grabbing Hex by the arm and walking her past the two men.
"What ID did you show the sheriff to make him get scared of you like that?" Sookie asked on the way down to the car. Hex pulled out the paper again and showed it to Sookie. "Psychic paper. It shows people what I want them to see. It works most of the time, unless the person is a genius or has no imagination whatsoever" Hex explained, handing the paper to Sookie so she could have a look at it. "This could really come in handy" Sookie commented as she handed it back to Hex who stuffed it in her trousers pocket. "Oh believe me, it does" Hex reassured Sookie as they got in the car to drive back home.
"Any other cool gadgets you've got?" Sooke asked as she drove. "Oh yeah, loads! I've got a sonic screwdriver which does wonders on electronics, I've got an untested vortex manipulator which should be able to travel through time and space, I've got a pouch that gives me an infinite amount of money in any currency and a wand" Hex exclaimed excitedly, leaving Sookie to gape like a fish. "What?" was all Sookie could get out.
"Ok, I guess it's time to explain some stuff. I'm originally from another Universe and randomly travel through six different universes, I think, this being one of them. The whole traveling thing, which started a little less than a year ago, came with some special powers. For example, I know some of the future, not all of it but some. I've got some kind of magic, I guess you can call it. I have my telepathic abilities. I'm super clever. I have super strength and super speed like a vampire. Oh, I'm super fast at reading. I can understand and talk to animals if I concentrate enough, and finally I can turn into animals as well. You ok so far?" Hex asked. Sookie took a moment to digest what she had been told before slowly nodding. "You see why I can't just tell you everything. Telling you too much about the future or changing certain things could have horrible after effects or create paradoxes. And yes, that fox last night was me. Oh and please don't tell anyone about this at all!" Hex said sheepishly. Sookie took a moment before nodding again.
"So, any questions?" Hex asked hesitantly. "Not really, though I might come up with some later. That is quite a lot to think on. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I get how dangerous that could be. I guess I trust you enough to do what's right. I think we should talk about this some more when we get back home" Sookie suggested, as she drove down the street. Hex readily agreed and the rest of the car ride was silent as Sookie thought things over.
When they arrived back at the house, Sookie and Hex went up to Sookie's room where Hex properly explained everything, including how the watch worked that Sookie hadn't even noticed until then. Hex went on to showing Sookie her bag at her waist, explaining the perception filter, and showed her friend some of the items inside, not including some of the things in her hidden pocket, especially the little red journal. She would never show that to anyone if she could help it. She had even taken to writing in this specific Journal in different alien languages so no one could read it.
Sookie had surprisingly taken everything quite well, even managing to turn the light in the room on and off with the sonic after Hex showed her how. After everything had been said and done, with Sookie promising to keep the secret from everyone, including Bill after Hex had described her own little adventure with him, the two girls went downstairs to find Gran vacuum cleaning. Hex paid no mind to it, feeling too relieved after getting everything off of her chest and sharing her secret with someone in this universe. She had to explain her foreknowledge to Sookie as being somewhat psychic, but that was only one of the few lies she had to tell, and she had told the Doctor something similar so it definitely seemed believable.
Hex had asked some favours from Sookie for when Bill arrived. Hex had told Sookie that she trusted Bill with some of the information like letting him know about the psychic paper and her sonic, mostly wanting to know how well they worked on vampires for something that would be important later. Sookie agreed to get Bill to help, although she wasn't sure how much of an influence she had on him. Hex also told Sookie that she might trust Bill with more information depending on how well he reacted to the first bit.
"You know, he sleeps in the ground all day. I don't think he's gonna even look at the rug" Sookie told Gran who hadn't stopped cleaning since they had come home. "I…. I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing this for me, so I can be proud of my home. And how do you know where he sleeps?" Gran asked. "I don't, actually" Sookie replied, seeming a little distracted by something. "What's that smell?" Sookie asked.
Heightened senses from the vampire blood. Hex reminded Sookie, who had gone to look for the source of the smell while still talking to Gran, with Hex finding out that she could heighten her own senses in a similar fashion. Still? Sookie questioned as she found a small bit of food under some furniture. You had quite a bit of it last night so don't be too surprised. Hex explained as Sookie went to throw the piece of food out, though Hex was still thinking about the uses of her new ability to heighten her own individual senses individually. This could make for really great… No! Don't go there Brain. No more relationships or intimacy like that of any kind! Stupid brain.
"Oh! Sookie, Hex" Gran called out as Sookie came back from throwing the bit of food away. "Yeah?" Sookie questioned. "Jason and Tata are coming over this evening as well" Gran said. Hex groaned at the news, and Sookie took that as a sign to assume that that would not be a good idea. "Gran" Sookie said, a little apprehensively. "Well, they invited themselves. Jason said that he wants to meet the vampire for himself, and Tara said she thought she ought to be here as well" Gran tried to reason.
"I don't know why everyone except for Hex is getting their panties in a wad about some stupid vampire!" Sookie exclaimed. Oi! Bill's not stupid. I like Bill! He's one of the nice vampire's! Sadly, he's not really my type. So don't worry, you can have him all to yourself. Now Eric Northman, who you haven't met yet and is an asshole to begin with, he's a sexy vampire once he turns good. He's the one that owns Fangtasia. Hex steased Sookie lightly via their mental connection, causing said girl to roll her eyes at her. Oh shut up you, I thought you said no spoilers. Sookie said. I said no major spoilers. That didn't count. Don't worry, I know how to handle timelines and what I can and can't say. Hex reassured her friend.
"Did you want to be alone with him?" Gran asked, oblivious to their little mental conversation. "I don't know… maybe. Aren't you two gonna tell me to be careful?" Sookie asked. No way sis, you got this. I might come and spy on you two as a fox or something else though, just in case. I'll always try and protect you, just so you know that it's not because I don't trust you to be careful. Hex replied mentally while Gran said "You're always careful, Sookie, about what counts. And I can depend on that. Isn't that right?"
Hex and Sookie spent the rest of the time before evening discussing how to best confront Bill. Hex, already knowing the future, kind of, suggested that she come along for a bit when Bill asks to go for a walk with Sookie. Sookie didn't mind as long as Hex promised to leave afterwards to give the two some privacy, which she did. By the time it was evening, Jason and Tara had both joined the three that were already there and they were all sitting in the kitchen.
Don't forget to invite him in. Vampires can't enter human dwellings unless they are invited in by someone who lives in them, and the invitation can be withdrawn in case you feel threated by him in any way. Hex reminded Sookie who nodded as Jason continued to complain about vampires and Sookie tried to defend herself from him with some of Hex's help. After some familiar lines Hex told Sookie He's here. Sookie went to the front door to indeed find Bill there.
"Oh, Bill, won't you please come in?" Sookie said, making the invitation a little too obvious. Bill raised an eyebrow at her in question. "Yes, I know about havin' to invite you in and that I can withdraw my invitation and that you'd have to leave, so no funny ideas mister" Sookie explained smugly, waving a finger at him, before she walked back into the house closely followed by Bill who had both eyebrows raised in surprise.
Soon everyone was seated in the living room, Hex grabbing the tray off of Gran before she could try and offer Bill any food. "Your people, Mr Compton, they were from this area… I believe?" Gran asked. "Yeah, my father's people were Comptons, and my mother's people were Loudermilks" Bill explained. "Oh, there are a lot of Loudermilks left. But I'm afraid old Mr. Jesse Compton died last year" Gran informed him. "Yes, ma'am. That's why I came back to Bon Temps. There were no living Comptons so I've set up a home in the old Compton place. And as I expect the VRA to pass…" Bill explained but was rudely interrupted by Jason who said "Yeah, I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you. A lot of Americans don't think you people deserve special rights." Hex was thankful that she was close enough to Jason to smack him, which she did. "Rude!" Hex admonished, earning a glare from Jason which didn't faze her in the slightest, a grateful look from Sookie and an amused and somewhat grateful look from Bill while Gran just smiled. "They're the same rights you have" Bill argued. "No, I'm just saying there's a reason things are the way they are!" Jason said. Hex's blood started to boil and she hoped for Jason's sake that he wasn't going to say what he did in the series.
"Yeah… It's called injustice" Bill explained calmly. "Listen, it's called…" before Jason had a chance to finish Hex had reached over and pulled him down to her eye level by his ear, causing him to yelp in surprise before he whimpered at the strong hold. "No you listen here Jason. You'd better think very carefully about what you say next" Hex threatened, mentally sending strong waves of anger at him and feeling the way her eyes glowed just a little, only enough for Jason to see. Hex could feel the fear that responded to the action and let go of Jason to sit back in her seat. Jason had shut up for the time being. There was only a short awkward silence that Gran quickly broke.
"Did you know the Stackouses, Mr Compton?" Gran asked Bill to change the subject. "Yes, uh… I remember Jonas Stackhouse. He and his wife moved here when Bon Temps was just a hole in the road. I was a young man of 16. Isn't this the house he built? I mean, at least in part?" Bill answered, happy for the change in topic and atmosphere. "Yes, it was!" Gran exclaimed. The moment through was ruined by Tara.
"Did you own slaves?" Tara asked, receiving annoyed "Tara!" from Sookie which went ignored by everyone except for Hex who put a comforting hand on her blond friend's shoulder. Bill handled the question rather well though. "I did not, but my father did. A house slave, a middle-ages woman whose name I cannot recall, and… and a yard slave… a young, strong man named Minus" Bill calmly explained. "Oh, this is just the sort of thing my club will be so interested in hearing about" Gran said happily.
"About salves?!" Tara half shouted. "Well… about… anything having to do with that time" Gran quickly corrected. "I look forwards to speaking to your club, Mrs. Stackhouse. Now, if it's all right with you, I thought that Sookie and I might take a walk. It's such a lovely night" Bill asked. "Well… it's all right with me if it's all right with Sookie" Gran said. This was when Jason the idiot decided to speak up again.
"I don't think that's a good idea" Jason said. "I don't think it's any of your business!" Sookie and Hex said at the same time, both sounding terribly annoyed. "They're right, Jason" Gran said. "Look, Gran, I am the man in this family" Jason argued, puffing out his chest. "You are a man in this family, but I am the oldest person here and this is my house. You better respect me, boy!" Gran said. "Actually… I'm the oldest person here" Bill said, trying to ease the tension, which worked somewhat. "Shall we?" Bill asked Sookie, holding out his hand to her. "Well, would it be alright if Hex joined us for a little bit?" Sookie asked, giving Bill a pointed look that clearly told him that there was a reason for the request. Bill looked over at Hex who smiled up innocently at him. "Very well" Bill said.