A/N Sorry... I initially accidentally uploaded a chapter from the last story, not this one!

Dinner consisted of shrimp and chicken po' boys from a little eatery in the city. The original plan, Danny told me, had been a fancy dinner at an Italian bistro in mid-town, but truth be told, I much preferred this. We went dutch and sat outside on the plastic dining setting. The evening was humid and the clouds hung low with anticipation. I saw him notice the scars on my thighs, and I adjusted the skirt of my dress, pulling it down as far as possible. I tried to force myself to relax, which was sadly easier in theory than in practice. I had no clue what was going on in the world of supes, and it was only a small comfort to know that my were guards, though out of sight, were stationed within mental reach in the shadows across the street.

Judging by Bill's cagey response, regardless of what had happened, things were still hanging in limbo. The only silver lining out of the entire confusing evening was that my date-nerves had been completely extinguished by fight-or-flight nerves.

"You get called into work late weekends a lot?" Danny asked.

"I do a fair bit of evening work," I replied with a smile. I set my food down on my paper plate and dabbed my mouth with a napkin. Good food in New Orleans tended to be messy. "Yourself?"

"As much as the average lawyer."

"So, a lot then," I replied, and we laughed.

"I've heard talk at the water cooler that Mr. Cataliades is a family friend of yours. Is that how you came to work for him?"

"He's my godfather, I guess you could say. But if folks at the water cooler are implying nepotism was at play in my getting hired, I assure you it was more a case of right-place right-time. His last paralegal quit, and another was on maternity leave. I happened to move to town at the same time and so I began an on the job training program."

"I wasn't implying that. I've heard he can be a real task-master, and paralegal work is a tough gig as it is. You wouldn't hold your role unless you had the chops.

It was more… Me wondering how a country girl comes to have a half-demon for a godfather?"

I choked on my current bite of sandwich. "I didn't realize his, uh, heritage was common knowledge." I reached for my water bottle.

"It's not," he said with a light shrug. "But in my position, it's necessary info. At work, my path crosses with supe-law fairly frequently. I work with Florinda Cross on occasion, you'd know her, she's that vampire DA—wild red hair, walks like she's on a warpath—so I've come to know all the big players in town." I did certainly know of Florinda. I'd sat in court on one occasion listening in when Mr. C was up against her.

"Desmond is an old family friend," I said. "It's a long story, truthfully. And not a terribly interesting one."

"You've had a lot of contact with supes, I take it?"

"You could say that. It's part of the job. I used to work for a shifter back home. And I've dated a couple of vampires too." I looked him square in the eyes as I told him this. To his credit he didn't flinch. Neither did the tenor of his thoughts change, though he did wonder if my dating history had anything to do with the deep scarring on my thighs. I hurriedly pulled back from his thoughts and tugged down the hem of my dress again. My cheeks burned as I steered the conversation to safer topics.

After dinner, we stopped by a blues bar where a band played 50s covers, which in turn led me to dragging Danny by the hand onto the dance floor. He was a fine dance partner, and we tapped and twirled, sweating up a storm in the process. It was mid-summer and stinking hot, but I found myself too self-conscious to take off my cardigan. If he noticed the scarring on my thighs, what would he think of the bullet wounds on my arm? And the long scar from that maenad that ran down my back? I had more bite marks on my torso from Thing 1 and Thing 2, plus a rather nasty stake mark. A dressmaker's pin cushion had an easier life than me.

We called it quits at 11:30, since we both had worked the next morning, and we left the bar hand-in-hand. All things considered it was a successful date.

Not three steps out of the bar, Rasul emerged from the shadows and blocked our path, thankfully cleaned of blood and no sword in sight.

"Miss Stackhouse," he said. He bowed smoothly to me and then nodded toward my date. "Assistant D.A."

"Mr. Aldashir," said Danny.

"What are you doing here Rasul?" I asked, tamping my surprise at their familiar acquaintance. My were guards slipped from the shadows and appeared either side of Rasul. "It's fine," I said to them, lifting a placating hand. "He's a friend."

"I must speak with you, Miss Stackhouse, for a reason of utmost urgency."

"How did you even know I was here?"

"I overheard your comment about your date this evening, and so I followed your sweet scent on the breeze." I narrowed my eyes at the vampire suspiciously, but shooed the guards away.

"Is everything okay?" Danny asked softly, his hand coming down to clasp mine.

"I'm not really sure," I said and sighed. "If you would excuse me for just a moment—"

My words were cut off as Rasul intercepted and pulled Danny under the influence of his glamour. Poor Danny stood there with a slackened expression, lips slightly parted like a goldfish.

"Now what did you go and do that for?"

"It's easier with him like this. Humans are wont to eavesdropping."

"Oh, that's rich. Your kind are just as bad. In fact, worse."

Rasul shrugged but his usual quippy response did not follow. "Much has changed since we last spoke—"

"So, you had to visit face-to-face? You couldn't just call?"

"I tried," he intoned irritably. I retrieved my cell from my purse. Oh, crabsticks. I had five missed calls. As if on cue, my cell began ringing again, Mr. C's name flashing on the screen.

"Sookie," Mr. C said when I answered. "I apologize for interrupting your date this evening."

"No apology necessary, sir. It's already been interrupted." I glared at Rasul.

"I see. Is Mr. Northman with you?"

"No sir, I am currently entertaining Mr. Aldashir."

"Ah," he said with some surprise. "I trust that you're safe."

"Yes, sir. I believe so."

"Very well. Did he inform you of the takeover this evening and the change of vampire rule?"

"No, sir, but I gathered something of that nature had occurred." Rasul and I held eye contact as I spoke. Though his manner and countenance revealed nothing, I had the distinct sense that he was rattled by the evening's events, as something about him gave off nervous energy.

"Yes," Mr. C said, "Thalia has taken the throne."

The world seemed to stop spinning.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"She is the monarch now; Queen of Louisiana, Nevada and Arkansas."

"Thalia?" I just about dropped the phone. Thalia as Queen? I let out an incredulous laugh. She didn't have a political bone in her body! I was lucky to get more than two words out of her at a time. How would she go with the constant politicking of the vampire world?

"Yes. Felipe de Castro met the true death this evening."

"Oh." Thank God. I couldn't even muster a slight stirring of empathy. He was finally dead. I was glad. "I can't say I'm disappointed."

"Indeed. It shall mean we'll be working night hours for the foreseeable future. Thalia Vatsineas has retained my counsel." He said it somewhat proudly. "There's a great deal of bureaucratic process to handle before her official coronation. It's all hands-on deck."

"Queen Vatsineas…" I murmured. I always pictured Thalia as a one-named gal. Like Beyoncé. Or Madonna. But her royal title, well, it conjured a vision of her on a throne, decked out in fine Ancient Greek regalia. The white off the shoulder toga, her neck and arms adorned in gold jewelry. Maybe even a few hand maidens.

"This isn't all the news, I'm afraid," he continued. "Queen Freyda also suffered a similar fate late last night."

The blood rushed from my head so quickly it was as if someone had pressed flush.

"She's dead?" I wobbled, and Rasul took a steadying grasp of my elbow.

"Yes, indeed."

I drew a swift, shaky breath as I recalled Eric as I saw him earlier that evening, covered in blood and limping. I cupped my mouth with my hand.

Had he murdered his own wife?

Oh my God, of course. He'd talked to me about going on trial for treason that night back at the farmhouse. This was why. He'd been planning it all along! My stomach churned, and I pushed past Rasul to lean heavily against the wall.

"How? Who did it?"

"It appears she died at the hands of a vampire within her court, Sigrid, who you already know, and another, Christof. They are of the same maker and both have assumed the throne."

I let out slow breath. Okay, so maybe Eric wasn't a wife-killer. But I wouldn't put it past him to have a hand in it.

"I remember them well," I said. "Did Eric have anything to do with it?"

"It would appear not. He has also retained my counsel to preempt and sidestep any such allegations," he said. Now I exhaled deeply. "Though whether you wish to assist with his casework will be up to you. Vampire marriage dissolution when the party has died is messy work. Hannah has assisted me with similar work, so I'm sure she'll be happy to help again. Think on it, and we shall talk tomorrow."

"What about Ryker? Have you heard from him?"

"I haven't heard from the federal human authorities and nor from Ryker, but I suspect he will be as dogged as ever. The feds will likely be poking around with the rule change."

"Is this what you came to tell me?" I asked Rasul once I was off the phone.

"Yes." He guided Danny over to where I still leaned against the wall. "I need your help."

I shot Rasul a baleful look. "What with?"

"You've seen how Thalia is with me. I fear I will lose my station, and perhaps my head with this takeover. I'm a valuable asset for this state. I know this, you know this. I want you to help Thalia see this also."

"Judging by how much blood you were covered in not two hours ago, I think she's got a good sense of it for herself this evening."

"You know Thalia, Miss Stackhouse, it can be difficult to make her change her mind."

"What's up with you guys?"

Rasul laughed sardonically. "Brush up on your ancient history, and you might get a sense why."

I didn't know what to make of that. "Can't you ask Eric?"

"I have. I prefer a two-pronged approach for greater chance of success." He grinned. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, acutely aware that my date was still suspended in La-La Land, all the while vampires continued to wheel and deal around me.

"Fine, I'll talk to her," I said. "I think I'd prefer it if your head were to remain intact."

His grin turned dazzling and he dropped a kiss to my cheek. "I'll remember you said that. Now, I'll excuse myself so you can return to your date."

He bowed once more, lifted the hold of his glamour and then zipped off into the night, sight unseen. Danny blinked as his vision focused in on me. "Are you okay, Sookie? You look pale as a ghost." He had no memory of Rasul or the were guards. I wanted to have mixed feeling about that, I really did, yet all I felt was relief.

I smiled tiredly and took Danny's hand. "I think I just need to go home."

•───── ─────•

I woke late in the morning to heavy rain drumming against my window. I moved quietly through the apartment. Diantha slept till late-afternoon most days, so I tried my best to keep quiet. I drank a quick, bitter black coffee at the kitchen table as I checked up on the latest news (it seemed like nothing had hit the news cycle regarding the deaths of either of the two vampire monarchs). Protests around the country were getting larger. It seems that Ryker and de Castro had missed out on their chance for a press conference.

I caught a streetcar into the city and spent the couple hours before work in the New Orleans library, perusing the shelves and picking a couple of romance novels, one lighthearted one and a historic one. Neither of which featured a blonde heroine or dark haired Korean-American love interest. More importantly, neither of them featured supernatural creatures killing one another. And that was just fine by me.

Work passed by in a stressful blur. While there were no vampire visitors to the office, Mr. C spent the afternoon and better part of the evening giving me a crash course on vampire contract law. I worked hard to focus, take notes, and not let my emotions rise to the surface. I was overwhelmed. Previously I was able to decline most vampire casework, and honestly there hadn't been a lot, but now with Felipe's death...? It was clear that the unspoken rule was thrown by the wayside. Despite the fact I wanted to bury my head in the sand, it was actually quite interesting. A lot of their doctrines were borrowed from the constitutions of various countries around the world. A lot of it was old fashioned, weighed down by tradition, but it seemed like Mr. C was adept at navigating through it all to produce the desired outcome.

Hannah was familiar with it all too since she took a lot of the vampire law overflow from me, and so we sat together at her desk as she showed me through some old cases she'd worked in the past for Mr. C and Mr. Lucreutius.

"You know," she said, her gaze trained on the page and pen tapping absently against the file she was reading, "I assisted Mr. Cataliades when Eric Northman retained his counsel a few years back."

"Oh?"

A prickle of discomfort swept through me, the root of which I tried my best to mentally avoid.

"We all worked overtime for weeks trying to find a loophole out of his marriage contract. Pored over lots of crazy ancient texts looking for something to keep the two of you in your marriage."

I felt rooted on the spot like a deer in headlights. I wanted to run but I also wanted to know more. I'd had no idea. She'd never breathed a word, let alone thought about it near my presence.

"I… I never really gave much thought to the work y'all would've done for him."

"Well, of course." She glanced up irritably. "Mr. C even hired extra help on Eric's dime from a vampire firm out of state. He thought having vampire attorneys work the case might provide some fruitful results. And, well, you know how that ended up."

My eyes boggled at that fact. I was familiar with billing for supe law work, particularly vampire lawyers. I knew how much that would've cost Eric. For that amount I could've bought myself an apartment and had enough to change buy myself a new car. When Eric said he'd had Mr. Cataliades try and help him find a way out of the marriage contract… Well, I'd never quite envisioned this.

"Once it was clear there was no way out of the contract, he flew down to the city to hammer out the details of his marriage contract with the Queen so that it would protect you." She tilted her head to the side, noting my surprise. "You didn't realize?"

"No, it's not that. It's just, well, I guess I've never really thought about it."

"You never considered the lengths your husband went to so he could stay with you? The lengths he went to in order keep you safe?" She sounded incredulous.

I hoped it was a rhetorical question, I really did, because I didn't have an adequate answer for her, and I was perceptive enough to hear how this entire conversation made me sound. I shrugged and smiled brightly, pushing those thoughts away; but as we continued to work, I struggled to focus against the shame that snaked inside me, cold and unwelcome.

The rain had slowed to the drizzle, so I walked the few blocks to collect my dinner. Thai food. The cuisine a recent, delicious discovery. I dawdled under my umbrella on the way back to the office. How was I back and stuck thinking about all this again? We broke up years ago. Eric left years ago. It was all said, and buried, and done. I hated how thinking about that time always brought about feelings of shame and resentment. It wasn't that I was pining for a different outcome, it was that I was I was ashamed by own actions from that time, by my own responses during that whole confusing ordeal. And still angered by Eric's behavior. I had purposefully chosen to forget about it and move on back then. That was a harder to do now knowing he was back in town and knowing what happened to his wife.

I picked over my dinner at my desk until I got sick of looking at it. I called Fangtasia instead. Nina, the same girl I spoke to the previous night, answered again.

"Is Pam in?" I asked. "It's Sookie Stackhouse calling."

"Oh, she told me she was expecting your call tonight!" Did she just…

"Good evening, my friend," Pam greeted when Nina connected me through. Pam sounded positively jolly.

"Hi Pam. I take it you and yours survived last night?"

She scoffed at the notion. "Of course. We were prepared and no losses were reported—on our side." I could just hear her satisfied grin dripping through the line.

"Well, I'm relieved and pleased to hear that. Though, I don't appreciate y'all keeping me in the dark about it."

"No offense intended, little telepath. We had to wait for the dust to settle, as it were. And I know how fond you are of running into the middle of the fray. Better to keep you in the dark."

I rolled my eyes. It figured. "I also heard that Oklahoma has experienced a similar political upset..."

"So, it did."

"Well," I said, clearing my throat. "I bet you're thrilled to have Eric back. And he you."

"I never doubted my maker," she said, preening on his behalf. "I figured he'd find his way out of that mess one way or another. Freyda was just so droll. I think if she didn't meet her death at the pointy end of a stake, then he'd have done it to himself out of sheer boredom."

"I don't know about that," I said. I thought back to the night of Freyda's gala and how they lit up the stage and the dance floor. How he remained steadfastly by her side, beaming and laughing at her jokes. I was sure he was in at least some pain over the loss of his wife. "And I hope you're not too upset about having to give up your post," I continued. "I know how you've enjoyed your role as Area Sheriff."

"What do you mean 'give up my post'?"

"Now that Eric is back."

"Sookie. What are they putting in the water down there?"

"Excuse me?"

"I have absolutely no intention of giving my post as Sheriff. I've worked hard and earned this title."

"Oh," I said with surprise. "I just figured…"

"That things would go back to how they were?" She laughed delightedly. "Oh, Sookie. You are amusing."

"If Eric's not returning as Sheriff, then what's he going to do?"

"You'll have to go to the horse's mouth for that, won't you? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a stack of paperwork in front of me with a leggy blonde perched on top. One is calling my name, the other will be very shortly." And with that, she hung up.

Pfft. Fat chance I'd go to the horse's mouth. I'd steer well away from that horse if I knew what was good for me.

Instead, I phoned Danny to thank him for the date the night before. He evidently had heard about the vampire-related news and didn't seem at all surprised when I explained I'd be working nights for the coming weeks. Butterflies burst to life in my stomach when he told me he was excited to set another date.

"I actually have tomorrow off," I said, toying with my necklace. "It's my birthday day and it's tradition at the firm that the lucky person gets the day off. I was planning on cooking something simple for dinner and watching a movie with my roommate at home. You're welcome to join… Or is that weird?" I laughed self-consciously. Second date might be a little early to be planning birthday celebrations.

"I'd love to," he said. "As long as I'm not intruding. 30 is a big year to celebrate."

"I had my big party on Friday night and an even bigger hangover on Saturday morning. Tomorrow will be casual, just treat it like any other night."

We set a time, and I made him promise not to buy me a gift. I really wanted to treat tomorrow like any other day. I'd had enough excitement over the last three days to last me a while—particularly excitement of the supernatural variety. So it wasn't even the fun kind.

Speaking of, once I finished my call with Danny, I contacted one more person: Thalia. I didn't even know if she still used the number. When she'd first given it to me, it was a number to contact her while in Las Vegas working for Felipe. And right now, she was probably too busy wiping blood off the walls of the New Orleans palace to read her texts, so this amounted to me dipping my toe in the water to test the temperature. I kept my message short and sweet.

We need to talk.