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Sorry I haven't updated in so long - my life is kind of a mess at the moment but hopefully it will be sorted soon.

Constructive criticism is always welcome and if you see any mistakes please don't hesitate to point them out!

Anyway, here is the next chapter - enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own True Blood or The Southern Vampire Mysteries nor any of the characters. I only own Amelia. I hope this is taken as a work of appreciation and love as is its intended purpose!

Chapter Three

The footsteps descended into the basement, the dull sound of them hitting the wood in a musical harmony with my heartbeat. Thump. Thump. Thump. Terror froze my muscles, terror at the unknown, faceless assailant. I had dealt with a lot of shitty situations in my life but nothing made me more scared than the delusions of a fanatic.

As our unknown jailer stepped further and further into the room, more and more light flooded in until I could see the entirety of the basement where we were being kept. Before, I could vaguely make out the metal bars of our prison thanks to the moonlight streaming in from a window in the far the corner. Now, I could see that this basement was mostly used for storage. We were surrounded by musty cardboard boxes that stretched out on all sides of us around the cage, which appeared to be the central feature of the room – the main attraction.

In this new light, I could see Godric's face far more clearly, and boy was I wrong in my previous assessment of him. Before, I had thought he was hot but clearly I had been using the wrong adjective. He was breath taking. The only word that could really be used to describe him was beautiful. I distantly wondered if this was a trait all vampires shared or if Godric was just special. The vampire was tense, all his muscles coiled tightly, reigning in a strength I could only dream about. He looked like a snake, prepared to strike.

Slowly, and with dread like a leaden force dragging my stomach straight to my feet, I turned to face our captor.

It was kind of anticlimactic. The clean, fresh face of Steve Newlin stared intently at us through the bars, a bright, plastic smile plastered onto his face.

"Well, howdy, folks."

I stared in disbelief. This was the evil mastermind?

"What the actual fuck."

"Language! The Lord punishes those who use profanity, little lady. Although, I'm sure you have sins a lot greater than just simple swear words to worry about."

"What, like kidnapping people?" I responded dryly, lifting my eyebrow.

His gaze went from Godric to me and grudgingly I could see how he had amassed a cult behind him. His eyes held a certain charisma that most people tend to be drawn to but that charisma could easily switch to mania given the right circumstances.

He chuckled and a shiver of disgust ran up my spine. "I am not sinning. This leech here isn't a person and you, well; in the Lord's eyes you are even worse. Betraying your own race and turning away from the Light for one of Hell's minions. Its disgusting."

"This would be far more effective, I'm sure, if I had any idea what you're talking about. However, as it stands, I'm clueless. Please enlighten me as to what my supposed great sins are." Seriously, before tonight I had never even spoken to a vampire, what on earth could they want with me? I mean, I'm not a Christian but I doubted that would warrant my kidnapping. After all – there were a hell of a lot of non- Christian people out there, why would they choose me when I didn't even know any of them?

"Don't play dumb with me. You think you can save one of these – these – parasites," he practically hissed the word, "without facing God's wrath?"

And then it dawned on me and suddenly everything made sense. I couldn't believe it, all I could do was stare at the Reverend in unadulterated horror. I simply couldn't understand how a single person could be so stupid, so ignorant.

Distantly I noticed Godric staring at me with a renewed curiosity but all I could really focus on was the sheer absurdity of the situation.

"But – I'm a – How-" I sputtered, not able to even form words. "Its my job!"

Godric stared at me in clear interest now and the Reverend Newlin just scoffed. "That's not your job, where in your job description does it say you should save fangers? It doesn't – I have read the code myself. You're doing the devil's work, is what it really is."

I continued to stare at him with wide eyes, my mouth gaping open. "I'm a fire-fighter!"

Understanding flashed on Godric's face and then he was once again wearing his blank mask.

"Save your excuses, you evil whore of Satan, we have plans for you – to cleanse you of your sins and bring you back into the light." And with that he threw a water bottle into the cage and marched back up the stairs, plunging us back into darkness. I couldn't stop the fear that had slid down my spine at his words – what did they intend to do to me?

"What do you think they'll do to me?" I asked Godric in a small voice, hating my vulnerability and that I couldn't control my fear. This was ridiculous! I was a fire fighter – I risked my life everyday, this was nothing compared to some of the things I had seen and done! But I couldn't help it and worry still held me captive.

"Don't worry, young one, I will not let any harm come to you." We stared at each other again. His eyes were really hard to look away from – I don't know if it was because he was pulling some kind of vampire hypnosis trick on me (they could do that right?) or if it was because he was that fascinating but either way I couldn't pull my eyes away.

A loud thump from upstairs made me jump, breaking our intense eye contact and I couldn't help but feel relieved – intense eye contact was just not my thing.

I made my way over to the corner of the cage and attempted to gracefully sit down on the floor – instead I just kind of exhaustedly flopped down. I started to shiver and looked down in surprise – shocked to find that my clothes and hair were damp – how did I not notice that before? It must of have been the adrenaline but now that there were no immediate threats – in the form of vampire (or so I hoped – Godric could still decide to eat me) or human – it had worn off. I thought about it and realised I had gotten soaked to the bone in the rain on my way from the bar. God, I hated drunk me so much. Now that I realised I was damp, I also realised I was fucking freezing. I started to shiver violently and curled up in a ball on the floor, trying to preserve my heat. Of course, because I noticed how cold I was, things just had to snowball from there and I was once again aware that my head was pounding, from the beating I took and my serious hangover. To top it all off I was exhausted.

I lay there on the floor, in a ball of misery and self-pity, momentarily forgetting about Godric until he awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Mila, you appear to be very cold and in your current situation, with your head wound, it would be very unwise for you to continue to wear your damp clothes. If we are not careful you may develop hypothermia."

"Oh, wow, I had never noticed that before. You're right, Godric, let me just pull out a spare change of clothes and a blanket that I happen to keep handy on me at all times." My voice dripped with sarcasm and I raised my head to pointedly glare at him. I expected him to growl (vampires can do that right?) or get mad at me for my blatant disrespect but instead a smile briefly flickered over his face. This guy was way too good-natured for his own good – I would have lost it at me ages ago.

"Actually, I was going to suggest you wear my shirt instead. It is thicker than your dress and has long sleeves. You are small enough that it should cover more of you than you current clothes do." He maintained steady eye contact, not once glancing over my form and I gave him some serious kudos. In the whole time I had been here he hadn't once had straying eyes, which took some serious self-control. I had been wearing a flimsy clingy dress to begin with and with the addition of the rain it had been clinging to me in a way that didn't leave much to the imagination. I tried to hate drunk me for wearing this dumb dress, but honestly the blame actually lies with sober me.

I was desperate to cover up – being in a church with a bunch of religious lunatics looking like, well, like I made my living doing things the Bible really does not approve of filled me with stone cold terror. But, that being said, it was my choice to wear these clothes and Godric shouldn't have to suffer for my mistake.

"Thanks, that's really nice of you and stuff but won't you get cold? I mean I know its Texas but we are in a basement – it can very easily get cold down here."

"Vampires do not feel the cold and we do not get sick. It is no trouble for me."

Vampires don't get – "Woah! Dude, seriously? That's so cool! So you could like, just walk round the Arctic in your underwear?"

He chuckled. "We could; but I would not recommend it – the scientists there do not take kindly to naked vampires interrupting their research."

This time I actually laughed, the first time I had done so since landing in this shit storm. "That's awfully specific – are you talking from first hand experience?" I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively.

"No. Although, I do have a… dear friend," he smiled fondly, "who thought it was a good idea."

I laughed again, dying to know more when he frowned. The laugh died in my throat. It sounds stupid but when an ancient being of far more power than you could ever know frowns, even if it's not at you, its still disconcerting.

"We can talk after you have dry clothes on, your lips appear to be going blue."

And then, because apparently I care more about my pride than I do about my life, my stubborn side kicked in. You see, despite the fact that my job revolved around taking orders, I had some serious… lets call it issues, with authority. If someone politely asks me to do something, that's cool – I literally jump at the chance to help them (my mom thinks I'm too much of people pleaser), however, as soon as someone demands that I do something, it doesn't matter what it is, I straight up refuse (my dad, coincidently, thinks that I don't care enough about what other people think). Unfortunately, my brain decided that this was the opportune moment for my problem with authority to flare up. "No."

Godric blinked. "No?"

"No."

He looked hilariously bemused, like a small puppy, and I had to hide a smile. The expression looked strange on him though, like he hadn't made it in a few hundred years, which, considering his immortality, could very well be the case. I wasn't stupid enough to think that the expression was involuntary. He had so far demonstrated just how good he was at masking his emotions – I was only seeing this because he wanted me to; it was oddly touching.

"May I ask why you do not want my shirt?"

"Because—"

I choked on my saliva.

Just as I was about to launch into a long and probably ridiculous speech about why I didn't need his shirt, he took it off in one swift motion.

That sneaky bastard; distracting me with his good looks so that I would inadvertently accept his stupid top. I hated to admit it but it was working. I couldn't do anything but stand there and stare. All I could see was pale smooth skin and a firm chest that was covered in what looked like tribal tattoos. Shit, this was not good. Why was he so hot? This would have been so much easier if he wasn't so goddamn attractive!

I was brought back to earth when he cleared his throat again, and I belatedly realised he had been standing there holding the shirt out to me for who knows how long while I stood there and ogled him. I did that humiliating full body blush thing and immediately looked away. This was so embarrassing. I silently accepted the shirt while staring at a spot over his shoulder, refusing to look at him again. Out of the corner of my eye I could see his small smile had blossomed into a full on smirk, and that was as bad a sign as any – it meant he knew what he was doing!

I swiftly peeled off the damp clothes and changed into his shirt whilst he politely faced the wall and immediately felt a lot better. His shirt was really soft, clearly made from some super expensive fabric, and faintly smelt of a really nice expensive cologne. The guy had taste.

We sat back down on the floor, resuming our previous position of facing each other cross-legged. I was putting all my energy into looking at his face and not his half naked body, even though I was dying to examine the tattoos that decorated it.

I suddenly straightened, looking alarmed and Godric tensed. "Oh shit! I'm so sorry! I forgot to thank you for giving me your shirt – it was kind of you. Thank you, Godric." I smiled sunnily, showing all my teeth – I always found that my smiles looked more genuine that way. Sometimes I tried to smile at people reassuringly when I rescued them but I always found my closed lip smiles never worked as well as my toothy ones.

Godric's eyes softened and he stared at me intensely, searching my eyes for something again. Seriously, you would think my eyes contained the Holy Grail he was looking into them so much. Who knows what he wants from me.

I shifted, uncomfortable under his gaze and pretended that tracing patterns on the floor was the most fascinating thing I had ever done. Like I said, intense eye contact is not my thing.

"So," I drew the syllable out after a few moments of silence, "we have had some serious bonding time right here, really, we are pretty much best friends now; and that means you can tell me why you're here, in fact, its pretty much a requirement of our new found friendship." I tilted my head and gave him my best Bambi impression.

That ghost of a smile appeared again. "Nice try."

I slouched and pouted, fluttering my eyelashes in a way that was supposed to be persuasive but probably looked like I have an itch. "Pretty please?"

"No. You are very nosy – I am surprised you are not a police officer. "

"Ha," I snorted rather unattractively. "My mom is a cop – my nosiness is a by-product of being raised by her. She would cry with laughter if she heard you say that."

"Why?" A little frown appeared on his brow and he tilted his head to the side curiously. "Does she not think you would make a good officer?"

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing, changing the subject so I won't keep questioning you. I will let you off because you lent me your shirt but I will get the answer out of you before dawn." I pointed a sharp finger at him and narrowed my eyes.

"I am very old and very good at hiding my secrets, you not will get answers from me tonight." He looked amused but that was a good thing – he was being lulled into a false sense of security. People always underestimated me and it always came back to bite them in the ass later.

I smirked knowingly at him and arched a brow, acting like the cocky little shit that I am (according to my friends) but, hey, hanging out with arrogant fire fighters all day did that to a girl. Godric huffed out a laugh, somehow making it elegant when on a human it would have been rather unattractive. Damn it – were all vampires this effortlessly beautiful?

"Do you want to make a bet?" I asked, grinning.

He cocked an eyebrow, pretending to look thoughtful before shrugging and holding out his hand. "I do. "

I clapped my hands together victoriously. "Yes! " I shook his hand enthusiastically before pausing. "What are the stakes? I should warn you, as a fire fighter I do not earn much, like at all. I'm pretty much broke."

"I do not want your money. The stakes should be set by you – you did make this bet."

"Hm, I don't know what's valuable to a vampire, apart from blood, I guess, but I am not offering you that."

"And I would not ask it of you." He paused. " I have an idea."

I perked up, excited. "Yeah?"

He smiled mischievously then and I knew I was in trouble. "If I win, you have to give me a kiss. If you win, I have to give you a kiss."

"No way! The forfeit can't be the same either side! How about, if you win I have to give you a kiss but if I win I get to keep this swanky shirt you lent me?"

"That is acceptable."

Score! This shirt was outrageously soft- it would make the perfect nightdress. We shook hands. I had two options ahead of me: spend all night freaking out and imagining increasingly awful scenarios for myself or devote my time and energy into the distraction presented to me in the form of a mystery. Boy, he did not know what he was in for – I learnt information extraction and interrogation techniques from the best. By dawn, I will know why he is here.