Sorry it took so long! See you at the bottom!

Disclaimer: I thought this universe was abandoned.

Betaed by Breathesgirl

Previously:

Maybe someday I'll forgive Bill: maybe – one day – but not that day. It was still too painful for me to think about, let alone actually speak of.

We continued our conversation for some time, avoiding the sore topics, but once Bill realised that I wasn't interested in a neighborly chat any more than I was in answering his inquiries about my whereabouts at the beginning of January he finally gave up.

When he was leaving I was fairly sure that he knew my secret but neither of us admitted it out loud.

I woke up early. I would have slept much longer if my nerves regarding my brother's return would have settled. I perked up after he knocked on my door – a little ruffled, but in good health and unexpectedly calm. It turned out that once the fear of the unknown diminished Jason was actually slightly excited about his new supernatural status and about being able to shift into another creature. What I had not predicted was the fact that I wasn't entirely normal suddenly became somehow comforting for Jason. He didn't feel completely alone and he easily believed me when I assured him of my acceptance. He even seemed to gain a better understanding of my situation as someone with a touch of the supernatural, but living among regular humans, though of course my curse was different.

I had not seen it coming, but I welcomed it. I didn't have to worry about Jason anymore.

My happy mood made me so relaxed that when Jason said goodbye to me (after cleaning my fridge) and left, I went back to bed and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep. When I woke again, it was almost noon and I was well-rested and in high spirits. I didn't remember my dreams that time so I didn't have to worry about them either.

I hummed along to the radio, off key but happy. The world looked like a much more friendly place than it had the same time the day before. I felt like I could breathe deeply for the first time in a long time. Everything seemed so simple all of sudden!

I got myself ready for work, paying a little more attention than usual to my appearance.

Well, well, I even felt prettier!

Sadly, my newly found optimism was to be seriously tested quite soon.

The bar was crowded which meant a busy shift for me. Moreover, I knew that we had to manage without the boss – Sam was a shapeshifter and just like the Hotshot werepanthers he had to shift every full moon. For the moment he was still manning the bar but I could see that he was tense and that he was going to leave as soon as he could. I wasn't wrong about that – he left fairly quickly – but that was only the tip of the iceberg.

That night we had a fight in the bar. I also had to find a way to discreetly get rid of a women dealing V who showed up looking for new customers – all of that, and I had only Terry to help me and he was like a time-bomb himself. Terry was a Vietnam veteran and he didn't do well under pressure.

Still, I instinctively knew that none of this came even close on the danger-meter scale to the moment when I approached the table occupied by my friend, Tara Thornton, and her companion to deliver their ordered drinks.

Red Stuff. The cheapest (and, according to my fanged friends, the vilest) synthetic blood substitute on the market – anyone ready to drink that meant trouble.

"Sookie, I'd like you to meet Franklin's friend, Mickey," Tara introduced him rather stiffly . Her tone suggested quite the opposite than her expressed desire for us to become buddies and it didn't bode well.

Franklin Mott was a wealthy vampire with a nice appearance of the middle-aged gentleman. To the best of my knowledge Tara had been dating him the last time I'd seen her. He seemed well-mannered and sophisticated. I couldn't picture him socialising with the guy sitting next to Tara.

Mickey looked shady. He was skinny, with narrow shoulders and a face with sharp features. His eyes were cold, watchful and hostile. There was something in them that made me feel a little queasy when I noticed his too long nails.

I knew from the patrons' minds that there had to be something that could be considered attractive about him because I could read it in the mental reactions of some of them, but he seemed revolting me. This guy was terrifying.

I remembered the first time I'd seen Eric and that I had thought back then that his whole being screamed danger, but this was something else. If Eric was a sharp blade that comes noiselessly out of nowhere, Mickey was a slimy bog in the darkness.

I wondered, what in the God's name, my friend was doing with such a creature.

I thought it was really unlucky that Bill decided to confront me the other day instead of waiting a little longer – for once, I'd prefer him to sulk at his table. I'd feel more secure with another vampire in the bar and I could have at least asked him if he knew anything about Mickey.

Fortunately, they didn't stay long. I got the impression that Tara didn't want to linger at Merlotte's – and Mikey, well… he took a picture of the V-dealer with his phone. It crossed my mind that there was a big chance that the unlucky woman would never make it home. Vampires reacted very badly when someone was trying to sell their blood. It wasn't really surprising – to get some V, you had to get it out of a vampire and that usually happened without the vampire's consent. V-dealers worked hand in hand with the drainers, if they were not drainers themselves. It made the whole procedure essentially much akin to the organs' black market. Even knowing all of that the thought of Mickey serving justice on his own made me shiver.

When I somehow managed to survive all of that unscarred I let myself hope that I had already reached my weekly limit of excitement and that I could count on the next day to be calmer. I couldn't have been more wrong.

At first everything was fine. I reported the events of the previous night to Sam and got to work. Most of my shift passed without a hitch. Even the customers seemed nicer than the day before.

Then a fairy walked into the bar. No, I don't mean it as a poetic metaphor. Fairies exist, though they are not the tiny, winged creatures like Tinker Bell. Quite the opposite, all the fairies I had met were on the tall side (not that I had met an awful lot of them). They were also beautiful, magical and rather unpredictable. This particular fairy's name was Claudine Crane. She looked around the room and smiled at me. I smiled back immediately – her smiles were contagious. I had a feeling it had something to do with her supernatural heritage – just like the admiration she evoked in every single male that set his eyes on her.

She walked straight to me, hugged me, and then took my hand and dragged me back to Sam's office. Sam didn't seem to mind. I also noticed that he too had some difficulty taking his eyes off her even though he wasn't human himself.

I met Claudine during a very short, two-week quiet period when my life was otherwise unexciting. I had to admit that her appearance was the most intriguing thing that happened to me at the time. I met her while I was in the process of getting back to normal after Eric's revelations at the beginning of January and she had seemed surprised and alarmed that I didn't know who she was. She was yet another person I met during my missing week. We talked some and I asked her about our history. I had a good feeling about her – or maybe there was something in Claudine that made it really hard to dislike her. Plus, she seemed sincerely concerned about my memory loss and she promised to look into it. That's why I was glad to see Claudine. It made me hopeful, but the hope was quickly crushed and turned into worry when I heard what my pointy-eared friend had to say.

"My dear friend," said Claudine, "I'm sorry, but I have bad news for you."

It wasn't a good start, but I still kept my cool.

"This morning one of the werepanthers got shot."

My heart skipped a beat.

"Jason?!"

Claudine raised her hand in a calming gesture.

"No, your brother is okay – but someone shot Calvin Norris. He's alive, but seriously injured."

Calvin Norris. Jason's new pack-master. Not good.

I suddenly remembered that about a week ago a teenager, Heather Kinman, had been killed in a shooting. What was going on in my home-town?

"Is he going to make it?" I asked a little shakily. I was shocked.

"He's in the hospital. He's badly hurt, but he'll live."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I work in the mall in Ruston. One of Calvin's cousins came to our shop to buy a pair of pyjamas for him."

I'm not sure why but the triviality of the explanation took me off guard.

"Thank you for telling me."

"Don't mention it. I knew you would like to know. Heather was a were too. Think about it."

I asked her if she had a lead on the solution to retrieving my memories but she only shook her head regretfully. She kissed me on the cheek and we went back out to the bar. She spent some time amusing herself with charming the heck out of the male portion of our customers but it didn't look like she even considered leaving with any of them. I was watching her, fascinated – it looked almost as if she was feeding on the attention.

After she left I told Sam what I learned from her. He seemed almost as worried as I was. He decided to send Calvin some flowers from Merlotte's and I thought I should call Jason and ask him about the details.

That night I was closing the bar with Sam. We were already outside and he was just locking the door when I thought with relief that I got through yet another day safely. I opened my mouth to say something and Sam turned his head to look at me.

I was looking him in the eye when the shot rang in the air.

I know it might feel a bit like a filler chapter and I'm sorry for that, but some things just needed to be said before we can move on. Also, I realise that Claudine's introduction was a little rushed, but I figured since it's a fanfiction and you all already know her, I can afford skipping some of it and not boring you with repeating something you have probably read many times before.

And most importantly... yes, if you're reading 'Healed' too, you probably noticed that there was no Eric in neither of my updates this week. How did that happen? We definitely need to do something about it. I promise: you'll see him again soon enough. In both stories.

Next time: Sookie looks for help and Pam finally enters the story (did you miss her?).