SPOV

When I wake up I freak out for a few seconds because it's not somewhere I'm used to waking up in. Then I remember what happened, I'm in a hotel in Texas because Eric's maker is missing. When we got in last night there was only about an hour before sunrise so we had to go straight to the hotel to make sure Eric was in a light tight space when he died for the day. As soon as he rises tonight, we're going to go to Godric's 'nest'. Apparently, a nest is a place where a whole bunch of vampires live together. Eric says he doesn't like them and normally they breed bad vampires. Eric said Godric didn't used to like them either, but he decided it was easier because he was moving to a new area and had to get his new subordinates in line. Eric also says that normally he'd never bring me to a nest because it's usually dangerous for humans, they're not afraid to pass pets around there. With Godric leading this nest though, I'm safe. Plus, I trust Eric would never let anything like that happen to me. And hey, now I have this nifty new microwave finger thing I can use if any vampire is getting too handsy… I just have to figure out how to control it first.

Speaking of my microwave fingers, I really think I have to talk to Gran about this. I didn't tell her when it happened because I was kinda in shock but now that Eric told me it's because some part of me is fairy, I think it's something she might have information about. Then again, Eric said she's definitely not the grandparent that had the fairy in them because he'd be able to smell it if she was that much more fairy than me. I don't know, it's a lot to take in. That's another reason I should talk to Gran about it, she's the person I always talk my problems through with. I mean I have Tara and Lafayette but it's different with Gran.

I take a few minutes and enjoy the cuddles I'm getting from Eric, when he died for the day he was wrapped around me. It was strange at first, waking up next to him when he was like this, but I'm used to it now. Although, it's not so simple to get myself extracted from him when he's holding me so closely. I huff when I finally free myself, then I go to the bathroom to clean myself and get ready for the day. Once that's handled, I go out into the living area of the suite that we're staying in and see Gran over by the kitchenette drinking coffee and looking over the room service menu.

"Oh Sookie, good afternoon! Isn't this so fancy? I feel like I'm the queen in my palace. I've never stayed at such a nice hotel. Heck, I've never stayed in any suite at all."

"Yeah Gran, it's beautiful. Did you sleep well?"

"Oh yes, if I hadn't slept on Eric's bed before, I'd think this bed was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on. I want to take Eric's bed home with us when we go" she says with a giggle.

I hold up my finger to my mouth in a quiet motion then look back to the bedroom door "Hush Gran, don't say that in Eric's hearing range, even when he's asleep or you'll have a brand new one of the same type at the house before we even get there."

We both laugh then I walk over to the coffee pot, pour myself a cup, and take a seat next to Gran.

"You hungry, Sookie dear? It's probably going to be a busy night for you."

"You're probably right."

I take a look at the menu and I'm happy to see they serve breakfast all day. We both settle on eggs, bacon, and potatoes. I make the call and we sit and chit-chat about nothing important while we wait. When someone knocks on the door I get up to answer. I was about to just open it like I normally do but then I remember Eric told me to be extra careful about who I let in. So I check in the peephole and see it's a man in a bellboy uniform pushing a tray with our food. I lower my shields and hear that he's just thinking about our order and he's wondering what's taking us so long. I decide he seems safe so I open the door but make sure to keep my shields down.

"Hi, come on in."

He gives me an absent smile and then pushes our cart in.

'The old lady sounds normal, there's a vampire in that room, but I can't hear this lady. I wonder why. No Barry, don't ask questions, that's what will get you in trouble. Just drop off the food and leave.'

What does he mean he can't hear me? And how did he know Eric is in our room? Oh my Lord, is he like me? I make sure my shields are down all the way, I guess I've gotten so good at them that I didn't realize I was keeping people out. Then again, I've never met anyone I've had to keep out before.

'Hello? Barry, can you hear me?' I think to him and he freezes. He slowly turns to look at me and I can see the fear in his eyes. For some reason he's terrified.

'You're like me?'

I get excited because this is the first telepath other than me that I've ever met so I smile widely and nod my head.

'Yes! Gosh, this is so exciting. Have you ever met anyone like us before? This is my first time, I thought I was alone.'

'I've met one other before. I don't want to meet anymore. I just want to stay where I am, keep working at one of the only places I can stand working, and live my life peacefully. I see the vampires already got their fangs in you, I want nothing to do with them so forget you've ever met me.'

My smile slowly fades as I hear his words and I try to reply in my mind but he turns around and buoys out the door

"Barry, wait!"

I take a few steps to follow him but I remember that Eric made me promise that I wouldn't leave the room. I'm about to ignore it and go anyway when I hear Gran and she sounds concerned.

"Sookie?"

I let out a sigh of disappointment, close the door, push the food over to the table, and resign myself to figuring out how to talk to him later. I pep up a second later because even though he seems like he doesn't want to talk, it's exciting news.

"Gran, he was like me," I say in a dreamy voice.

"Like you?" She asks confused, then sits up straight, "you mean you two were talking to each other? He could hear you?" I give Gran her food and take a bite of mine.

Yeah! For so long I thought I was the only one, I thought I was just born a freak. But look, the first time I travel more than 100 miles from the house, I find someone."

Gran looks sad, she doesn't like it when I talk about myself that way. She pushes her plate out of the way then puts her hand on mine and rubs it gently, "You're not a freak, Sookie. You're special. Look and what you're doing here, you're helping Eric find someone important to him and you're the only one who can help him this way. For the first time in your life, you're taking charge of your telepathy and you're using it to make a life for yourself, you should be proud and be proud of what makes you different. I know it's made life hard for you but as we're seeing, it can do a lot of good too."

"I know you're right Gran, and I've accepted it, embraced it even. That still doesn't change the fact that I was alone in it. Although, a few days ago I learned something else about why I might be this way."

"What do you mean?" She asks wearily.

Now, I try my darndest to stay out of her thoughts so she can have her privacy but the way she said that and the scared look on her face make me think she knows exactly what I'm about to say. Which means she knows something. I take a deep breath, this is Gran I'm talking about, she wouldn't lie to me or hide things from me. She saw me at my worst, if she knew why I am the way I am, she would have told me.

"Well, I didn't tell you everything that happened with Sam when we went to Merlotte's that day. You see, he tried to kiss me and I pushed him away but he didn't move, so I pushed him harder. The thing is, when I pushed him, my hands lit up and it literally threw him across the room. I was in shock when it happened, that's why I didn't tell you when we drove home. Anyway, I told Eric and it helped him figure out what I was. Apparently, fairies are real and they're somewhere in my family line. He knows for sure it's not from you though…" I trail off when tears start falling from Gran's eyes. Her hand is still on mine so I turn my palm up and my put my other hand on top of hers to try to soothe her. "Gran? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She sniffles for a little while and it's taking all the willpower I have to not lower my shields and listen into her thoughts. I have a lot of love and respect for her though, so I'm trying my best to wait. It's clear something about what I said upsets her, so she knows something.

"Sookie, I-I'm so sorry…" she trails off and starts crying again. I look around for tissues and once I spot them, grab the box, and give them to her, she takes them gratefully. What on earth is she sorry about? Why is this affecting her this way? I'm starting to lose the little willpower I have left, just as I'm about to lower my shields, she starts talking again. "Your grandpa Earl, he had the measles when he was a kid, one side effect that can happen from the illness is becoming sterile. We wanted a family so bad Sookie, both of us did, but we just couldn't. One day, when I was putting laundry out on the line outback, a beautiful man walked up to me. He was nice and we became friends, he'd visit me every few days and we'd just talk and laugh. He wanted to be more, and he told me he fell in love with me but I was a happily married woman. His name was Fintan. One day, he came to visit and Earl was home, we all sat and talked and somehow it came up that we couldn't have babies. He said if we agreed, he would be willing to be the father of my babies. Of course, Earl and I said no but Fintan asked us to just think about it. He said that he would stay out of the children's lives and that Earl would be their daddy, he'd just watch from afar. He said that he just wanted to make me happy. He said that he'd take me away for a weekend and then stay out of our lives and let us raise the baby however we saw fit. Then he left. I didn't see him again for a few months, Earl was angry because another man was clearly in love with me but he also knew he was the only man I loved. When we got passed the fight, we started talking here and there about it, and the more we spoke about it, the better the idea sounded. It was probably our only chance to have babies. The day we finally decided we wanted to do it was the day Fintan came back. It was like somehow he knew but either way, we made our decision and didn't stray from it. That weekend he took me to a house, it was big and beautiful but it didn't look very lived in. He said it was ours for the weekend, he only asked one thing of me. He said, "While we're here, pretend that this is our house and you're my wife and I'm the man you love." I agreed because if I was honest with myself, I did have love for him, over the months and his visits the love grew. I felt horrible about the feeling I had for him but I couldn't lie to myself and pretend it wasn't there. Once the weekend was over, he dropped me off and stayed mostly true to his word. He gave me a number to call if we ever wanted another child, then left. He didn't interact with us until we called him but I knew he was there, I felt him watching over us. He came to me after Earl died too, he had hoped that we could still be together but I was old by then and he was still young and beautiful, I was still mourning your Grandfather too, so I told him no. He'd come to visit now and again as the kids were growing up but he stopped a few years before you were born. I think something happened to him because he seemed to really care about the children so I don't think he would have just abandoned them."

She's pretty much weeping at this point and I realize with s shock that I'm crying too when a tear lands on my arm. This is all too much to take in. So Gran cheated on Grandpa? Or did she? He knew about it and agreed to it but she still slept with someone else. Not only that, but she fell in love with him too. I know Grandpa Earl didn't sign up for that. I've based so much of my expectations of love on them, they seemed to love each other so much, and to find out that she decided to cheat on him because having a family was more important to her than fidelity to her husband.

No, that's not fair. Grandpa Earl knew and he was a part of it all. What I'm really upset about is the fact that she kept this all from me. I know it doesn't paint her in the best light but she should have told me something. She knew where my quirk came from and she knew people that could help me but she just kept it all to herself. No, again that's not fair, she tried to get help when I needed it but no help ever came. Ugh, this is too much.

I stand up quickly and I'm about to walk away when I look at Gran and see sadness, heartbreak, and fear in her eyes. The fear is what does me in so I sit back down and put my hands on hers.

"I love you Gran, and I know you did what you thought was best at the time. But It's a lot to take in, I need some time alone to think about this. I hope you understand."

She gives me a small smile and nods her head sadly. I get up and make my way to the bedroom quickly. I sit there for a few minutes just trying to get my thoughts together. Well, I thought it was just minutes but it must have been longer because the next thing I know, Eric wraps me in his arms and wipes my tears away. Was I still crying?

"What is wrong, dear one?"

"I know where the fairy in me comes from." He opens his mouth to say something but his phone rings. He looks like he's going to ignore it but it reminds me of the reason we're even in Texas. It's time to compartmentalize, yesterday's word of the day. "Answer it, it might be something important. We'll talk about my stuff once we find Godric."

He looks at me for a long second and once he sees that I'm serious, he answers it. It gives me the warm fuzzies knowing he'd be willing to put off answering a phone call that could potentially help him find his maker but I'd never want him to do that. From what I can tell, Godric is one of, if not the most important person in Eric's world. I'd never want to get in the middle of that. Also, I think it's good for me to focus on something else to get my mind off of what Gran did. It stinks that I can only hear his end of the conversation because it's not giving me much information.

"Isabel… yes we landed safely…have you heard anything?… okay… we'll be there soon… my telepath and I."

I cringe internally at being referred to as his telepath. I'd rather be called his girlfriend or his significant other, or heck, even his lover. But I get it, Eric is the big bad Viking vampire sheriff, he can't let himself look weak. It just sucks that according to vampires, it's weak to have someone you care about. 'No Sookie, you can't let yourself get upset about this now, for once, Eric needs you. You have to be there for him.' I think to myself. When he shuts his phone I look at him.

"As you know, I'm new to this vampire world. What kinda place are we going to and how should I dress?"

"You're going there tonight as a working telepath, not as my lover, dress professionally. We're going to my maker's nest to try to get more information." He says as he gets up and goes to his closet to change for the night, I get up to do the same. I freeze right before I make it to my closet.

"What about Gran? It's probably not safe to bring her with us but I feel bad leaving her here by herself."

"Do not fret, min stjärna. She will be staying here but she will not be alone. You fell asleep as soon as we got here last night but I had time to make a few phone calls. I sent for a surprise for Adele." I stop what I'm doing to look at him. Instead of saying anything, I pull an Eric move and just quirk my brow. He sighs the sigh of someone who is truly inconvenienced. "Alright, I'll tell you, Sonya is in the sweet next to us. I woke to confirmations of her check in."

I smile widely. I want to run over and give him a hub but I can tell from his look that he's worn out and completely focused on his maker. So I make sure he sees my smile and feels my happiness in the bond before I get back to getting dressed. Once we are, we go out to the living room to tell her about her surprise.

"Gran, we have to get going."

She looks sad and resigned but happily responds, "Go on, get. You have important stuff to do tonight. Don't let an old lady slow you down."

It makes me sad because she really must feel that way about herself, I'll have to talk to her about that. "Gran, you know you haven't ever slowed anyone down. You have more horsepower than Eric's Corvette."

Gran laughs but doesn't reply otherwise. "Now Adele, I know coming here was very last minute, and I know it's not really fair to you, expecting you to stay in the hotel but I figured after all this is handled with my maker, we could stay here a few extra days and do some sightseeing. In the meantime, I flew someone out here who enjoys Texas."

"Oh Eric, I couldn't expect you to pay for us to sightsee. It's true, I've never made it to Texas before and there's a few places I'd like to see but that's too much for you."

"It's no problem, Adele, I wouldn't have suggested it if it were. I even told the hotel to gather some pamphlets about the attractions they have around here."

I can see the fight going on in Gran's eyes. She really wants to explore but she doesn't like getting handouts. Finally, she huffs, "We'll see. How, who did you invite to join us?"

"Two people actually." Just as he's about to say more, there's a knock on the door. I lower my shields to hear that it's Sonya so I smile at Eric to let him know it's okay then open the door.

"Sookie, dear girl. It's good to see you, I haven't been to Dallas in a long time, your grandmother and I are going to have a real fine time." That gets me a little worried, I thought they were saving sightseeing until Eric and I could go with them. I'm still worried the queen is after me, waiting in the shadows for me to be alone. Or for Gran to be, then Sophie Ann could snatch her and force me to come to work with her using Gran. Thankfully, Eric sets my worries at ease.

"Nice try Sonya, you know the rules. Stay in the hotel until we know it's safe."

Gran stands up with a happy smile and opens her arms for Sonya. They share a sweet hug. Then Gran looks at Eric. "Who's the other person you had come to Dallas just for little old me?"

"He didn't come just for you. He came for backup in case I needed it too. He's a vampire, though he's young, for our kind at least. He's not exactly 'all there' if you catch my drift. It might be because he was dead for too long before he was turned or it might be because he died of an overdose and he was on drugs a long time before that."

"Okay, stop beating around the bush and tell us who it is already," I say after it's clear he wasn't going to say anymore.

"Yes, you are right, we must get going. We call him Bubba, and you must too, he doesn't look back on his old life fondly. One thing above all that you have to remember is to never, ever, ask him to sing for you. Especially songs about hound dogs, or being in the ghetto."

Gran inhales sharply because she realizes who he's talking about, it only takes me a few more seconds to figure it out, I was never a big Elvis fan. Is Eric really saying that Elvis is a vampire? "So all those sightings of him…"

"Yes, he's a well-kept secret among our kind, he's sent from territory to territory and we keep him safe and try to keep him hidden. Unfortunately, in the early days after his turning, he constantly found ways to get away from the people who were watching him and explore. That's where most of the sightings came from. That only lasted for about 20 years though, once he made it to Louisiana, he decided he liked it here and stopped trying to run. Most sightings nowadays are just a case of mistaken identity."

Gran gets up excitedly, it's clear she's very happy that she's going to meet the king. "Well, where is he?"

Eric walks to the door, opens it, and calls out "Bubba" A few seconds later, a man who is most definitely Elvis Presley, though he's dressed much differently from what I've seen in recordings and stuff, comes up to the door.

"Hello there, Mr. Eric. I'm ready to start my watch."

"Good. Come in, it will be good for you to meet the women you're protecting." He walks over to me, "This is my Sookie, she is very special."

"Hello there, Miss Sookie, it's mighty nice to meet you."

I smile brightly and reach my hand out to shake. I remember it's a vampire faux pas and try to pull it back but Bubba grabs on and shakes my hand happily. I can see what Eric means by 'not all there', just his mannerisms and his speech patterns make it clear.

"Hi Bubba, it's very nice to meet you. This is my Gran, she and her friend Sonya are going to be here tonight while Eric and I go out."

"Hi Bubba, you can call me Adele." I can tell she wants to tell him how big a fan she is of him but thankfully she bites her tongue. Gran introduces him to Sonya and since I see they're all doing fine, I turn to Eric.

"Okay, they're good here, are you ready to go?"

I can see his eyes turn hard as he goes into what I call 'sheriff mode' he just nods his head and turns toward the door. I look to the three still in the suite and say, "Okay, we're leaving, we have our phones on us if you need anything, don't wait up, this will probably be a long night."

They all nod their heads and say their goodbyes. Before I turn around to leave, I see Gran's sad worried look, she's scared I'm upset with her because of what she's told me earlier. I can't lie and say I'm not, because I am. Plus, I haven't even had time to process it yet because I have to focus on saving Godric right now. I don't want her hurting though, so I try to smile happily at her to let her know things are going to be okay, but I'm positive at best, I gave her a sad smile, at worst, it was a grimace. I sigh then turn and leave the room.