Sookie's POV:

The following day, I needed to prepare for my trip. A type of trip that I had never thought I was ever going to take. I really didn't know how to prepare or where to begin. Luckily, the vampires were already in the process of planning for me. They had been anticipating the potential of time travel these past few years and just applied those plans to me. Alexander had sent his daytime staff to retrieve me. When I arrived at the palace that afternoon, there was a hair and make-up team waiting for me in one of the upper floor bedrooms.

"You must be Ms. Stackhouse?" one of the young women smiled.

I probed her mind and saw that she was ordered to help me style my hair. All she knew was that they were preparing me for a "casual 70s party experience" at the palace that night.

"Yes," I responded.

For two hours they did my hair and makeup. A stylist presented me with several options of clothing. I didn't want to stand out. I wanted to try and keep a low profile in the 70s. So, I chose a brown corduroy jumper dress with a beige turtleneck top. I also choice knee-high brown boots. The stylist also gave me a few options for winter coats. I chose a beautiful gray fur coat that wrapped around my waist. I looked at myself in the mirror after they had finished. Holy shit. I can't believe I'm doing this! I must have finally lost it! I had been fighting off my nerves all night and day which was starting to overwhelm me. I had to take multiple breaks to get some air.

It was past 6pm, when Alexander and Octavius came into the room. They both stopped and inspected me from top to bottom.

"You look like you will fit right in Sookie," Alexander said with gleam in his eyes. "The Northman called me just before I was getting ready to rest for the day. He gave me a very serious warning to make sure that nothing will go wrong. I provided him with thorough knowledge of our plans. I understand now how fond he is of you."

That made me feel a little better. I was glad that Eric was looking out for me.

"You will enchant everyone, Ms. Stackhouse," Octavius added.

"I don't want to enchant anyone, Mr. James," I said. "I want to be incognito. I can't imagine what people will do to me if they find out I'm from the future."

"But alas, that is what you must do if you want to catch the eye of the king," Mr. James replied. "You can't just approach His majesty the King with important information about the future and expect him to trust you. For starters, he is still the King in the 1970s. There are protocols in place. He has guards that protect him and a loyal entourage even though the humans didn't know we existed. Do you think the king will believe you? No, he will be wary."

"He is right Sookie," Alexander replied. "It has always been difficult for us vampires to trust others. Especially humans or other supernatural beings. We have always been cautious in every aspect of our lives. That is how some of us have survived for so long. Back then, I would have found it difficult to trust anyone, especially an unknown young, blonde American woman."

I smoothed out my plain dress. "You want me to be appealing?"

I took another look at myself in the mirror. I knew what they were trying to imply. What they wanted me to do to get the attention of the king.

"I'm not one of those type of women, your majesty," I said as I gave him a firm look. "I will not put myself in an….. uncomfortable position, even if it is to save the vampire race."

I went to skim through the other clothes. There were sexier dresses that showed off lots of skin and see-through lingerie. I lingered for a moment. No, I had already made up my mind. I wasn't going to travel back, seduce the king, gain his trust, tell him what was going to happen in the future, and come home. I thought about what they did in the movies.

"What if you write a letter?" I said to Alexander. "I mean write a letter to yourself, in your own handwriting, with your seal on it. You write things in it that you would know to be genuine that your past-self would believe."

He thought about it. "Yes, I can do that. I know for certain that I would have a very difficult time trusting your word no matter how enchanting you may be."

I was instructed more by James' advisors about the culture of the 70s in Stockholm for the next few hours. Music was one of the biggest influences in that generation. If I landed in the late 70s, disco music and discothèques were popular. They had given me new ID's. I looked at my name, Anna Kingsbury. I was from Atlanta, Georgia. I guess they decided to put me in the south cause of my accent, although it wasn't close to how people in Atlanta talked. I was going to have to adjust my accent I guess. I had a 70s American passport. I was also given a wallet full of Swedish krona and American currency. It was more than enough to get a hotel room and to buy more clothing and food.

As time got closer for my departure, Alexander came up to me and handed me a sealed envelope.

"I want you to give this to me. You need to make sure that I read the contents. It will describe everything that I need to know to prevent what will happen to us. I also included the formulas for the covid vaccine."

He then handed me another paper. I skimmed it over and it was a list of addresses and names of nightclubs. "In the 70s, I was a little bit more… carefree than I am today. I did not meet my wife until the 80s, so I spent quite a majority of my time enjoying the pleasures that Stockholm had to offer. I spent most nights at discoteques. Dancing has always been one of my favorite past times. I owned several discos as well as some secret ones. I have kept a journal all these years. I have given you dates of which clubs I may be at. The locations for one of these nights."

I gulped. Oh my god.

We went down to the monoliths. They had packed a suitcase full of clothes and other items just in case I needed them. I carried a brown satchel with my wallet and IDs though. I wasn't sure how this was going to work. Was I allowed to carry luggage? Or was I going to end up butt-naked in the past like how they did time travel in the terminator movies? My anxiety was at an all time high.

"I had mentioned before that this area was a mine. There will be an elevator shaft in the same location. But there will be no palace or anything like that in this area. You may have to find a way back to the city," Alexander said.

"Just great," I said to myself sarcastically. If I had to walk back to the city in the dark, it could take me all night. I gripped tightly to my flashlight as I stood by one of the monoliths. I was going to end up in the dark no matter what happened.

I looked back to the vampires. "I guess it's time. I'm as ready as I ever will be."

"Good luck Sookie," Alexander said softly. "We are counting on you."

"Just remember to try to finish your task quickly. We have no idea when these monoliths will crack. I would not dwell in the past for too long," Octavius said ominously.

I gulped as I nodded.

I placed my palm in the sequential order that Isaac did a few nights ago. I hesitated briefly as I stopped at the last one.

"Here goes nothing," I whispered to myself.

All of a sudden, I felt a surge flow through my body. It was a similar feeling when I had teleported to Bon Temps. I could hear a loud swooshing sound in my ears. The wind was so powerful that I couldn't keep my eyes open. After a few terrifying seconds, it was over.

I gasped out for air. I was soooo dizzy. I had never felt so disoriented in my life. It took a few minutes for the feeling in my head to go away. I slowly opened my eyes. It was pitch dark, but I could feel that I was leaning against one of the monoliths. I noticed that I was still clutching my flashlight, which I turned on right away.

I looked down and saw that I still had my clothes on and my satchel under my arm. I didn't see my suitcase anywhere though.

"Hello?" I called out, but no one answered. I shined my light all over the cave. I started walking towards the elevator and sure enough it was there, but it wasn't the same one as before. This one looked old, like a mining shaft style.

"Holy shit!" I pressed the button. I waited awhile for the lift to come down and it took me back to the surface.

When I reached the surface, sure enough there was nothing but trees, dirt, and gravol. I looked up at the crescent moon which provided enough illumination that I could see a dirt road ahead of me. I didn't spot any trucks or cars.

I started walked down the road. It was a cold night, but my fur coat was keeping me warm. I just wished I had worn warmer boots.

After an hour of walking, I finally reached a paved highway. I continued walking until I spotted a white truck catching up to me. It slowed down, stopped, and reversed to my spot.

A human man who was probably in his late 50s, rolled down his window, stared at me and smiled. "Vad kan jag göra för dig?"

I should've taken some Swedish lessons… I thought to myself.

"Ja," I replied. "uhhhhhh….. hotell Pigalle?"

He nodded his head and gestured to me to get in.

I probed his mind quickly and he seemed normal. I didn't find any hostile intentions towards me or anyone else. I jumped in.

An hour later we finally reached the city. It still looked mostly the same except the cars and public transportation was different.

I thanked the driver and offered him some money for the ride but he declined.

I sure hoped there was rooms available.

I walked into the entrance and was greeted by a staff member.

"Hello I am looking for a room for myself?"

"Yes, we have single rooms available. For how many nights?" Good, she spoke English.

I wasn't sure how long I was going to be here for so I gave the front worker a safe number.

"Uhhhh for seven nights," I replied.

"I will need to see your passport and a deposit for your room. You can pay the balance when you check out," she said.

I handed her my fake passport and she took down my information.

"We are pleased that you will be staying with us, Miss Kingsbury," she added as she finalized the details. "Here is your room key. The elevators are down the hall.

I opened the curtains and stared down to the city. I couldn't believe I had done it, I was here! Right away I felt a sense of warmth knowing that Marius was still alive somewhere in the world. But that was quickly squashed when I thought about Eric. I suddenly felt guilty knowing that I had a husband who was alive, but I had slept with Eric. I felt guilty about the love I felt for Eric at this moment. I still loved my husband too. But he wasn't technically my husband right now. Marius had no idea who I was during this time period. But then again, neither did Eric.

Rather than make my current situation even more difficult, I decided that I wasn't going to pursue either of them while I was here. I had no idea how much time I had. If Octavius was correct, I only had less than a few weeks. I made up my mind that I was only going to make sure that Alexander got the necessary information and I would head back to my own timeline right away.

I had asked the front worker for a newspaper and the date was March 2, 1978. I cross-referenced the information that Alexander provided as to his whereabouts tomorrow night and decided which discoteque I would go to. I called the front desk and asked them where I could go shopping for clothes and toiletry items in the morning. I wrote down the details. After washing my face, I suddenly felt exhausted. My experience wiped me out. I climbed into bed, pulled the covers over me, and fell fast asleep.