He was a creature of the night and has been for over a millennia. Would he love to watch the sun set and rise on occasion? Yes. But such wants were fleeting thoughts that passed like a feather in gale-force winds. Even finding himself bonded to a creature of light did not bring on the feelings that had plagued him all week,
The idea of going into his day death irritated him greatly. Leaving Sookie in her grief during the hours the sun shone hurt. He kept that hurt out of the bond. She didn't need to feel it, not this week.
The quiet he often found at the Stackhouse home was, for tonight, at least, a thing of the past. Adele Stackhouse had been buried a few hours earlier, a time of day he couldn't be present for his bonded. Everyone who attended the burial was now in or around the home. Tonight, Fangtasia was closed, and the vampires in his retinue were there paying their respects. Most had never met Adele but were there because her granddaughter had done much for them.
"Who is manning Fangtasia if y'all are here," Sookie asked at the sight of the vampires.
"Closing Fangtasia for tonight isn't going to kill anybody," Pam murmured, surprising Sookie with a hug. Both Pam and Eric had visited her every night. Pam stayed for an hour or two, Eric, until the rising of the sun forced him away. He had asked to stay in the light-tight rooms they had at the office, and Sookie wholeheartedly agreed; there was a comfort to having him so close by.
"Eric, Pam…" Hunter came racing out at the sight of the vampires. "So much glowing." He whispered as the vampires chuckled. He gravitated towards the vampires due to their quiet mind, something Sookie very much understood.
"Hello, Hunter." Eric picked him with ease.
"How are you holding up with all these people," Pam asked.
"Pretty good. My shields are getting strong." He boasted, nodding his head for emphasis.
"Good, you can keep me company." Pam took him from Eric and made her way into the house. Sookie watched them go with a smile on her face.
Sookie had contacted Remy when Hunter turned two years old. He hadn't been all that keen to grant her an invite to visit until she had disclosed her ability and willingness to help. Hunter had been too young to build any sustainable shields. Sookie had discovered a little trick when she put silicon earplugs in her ears to drown out the noisy students in the dorm room next door. Mind voices were not muffled by the earplugs, they sounded exactly the same. With Desmond's help Sookie designed what looked like a hearing aid to muffle spoken voices for Hunter. With that, he quickly learned to answer only the muffled voices until he could build his shields. He'd come a long way in the years, slowly building his shields.
She'd barely held it together when she was told she had a visitor; it was Remy and Hunter. She'd called two days before informing him of gran's death. This time, gran got to know her great-grandson, and deservedly so. They planned to stay for a week before Remy had to get back to work. Sookie put them in her Shreveport apartment, even though they spent most of their days at the farmhouse.
"How are you?" Eric asked every night the moment they both got into bed.
"I feel I can finally breathe," Sookie whispered. "The entire week, I was waiting for that one thought that blamed me for gran's death. I knew I was never going to hear it; gran died peacefully in her bed this time."
"Nightmares," Eric murmured.
"That was a nightmare in a nightmare. Everyone, including Jason, blamed me for her death, myself included. Someone was killing women who associated with vampires, and here I was openly gallivanting with Bill fucking Compton."
"You could have expected his next target to be you, but not your grandmother. He came for you and found her." Eric said with certainty.
"Gran was his target; I know that now." Eric looked down at her to ask for an explanation, but then her phone rang.
"Zoe?"
"Sorry to disturb you, but we just got a call from Sam Merlotte. He requested a meeting with you. Apparently, he has the information you'll want to know."
Sookie chuckled. "Of course he does. I'll handle it when I get to the office. Thank you, Zoe."
"This would be the shifter you married in your nightmares," Eric muttered.
"The one and the same. For what that life was, it was more than I could have hoped for." Eric was very much aware nothing would ever happen between Sookie and Sam Merlotte in this life, but every time Sookie said that the green-eyed monster reared its ugly head.
"What information could he possibly have?" Eric asked.
"Well, I for one I'm not going into this meeting blind, if I go at all." With a sigh, Sookie threw the blanket off her and got out of bed. "I'll have to speak to Jason in the morning. He spends enough time at Merlotte's to know if anything was different or if any new faces showed up."
"He's currently downstairs raiding your fridge with Hunter." Eric chuckled.
Sookie dropped her shield and let out a resigned sigh. "I'm never going to get through all the pies, and god knows what else every woman and his dog in Bon Temps brought, so he might just as well enjoy it."
"Aunty Sookie, we are ranking the best pies," Hunter called out cheerfully, mouth covered in pastry crumbs.
"Yes, I can see that." Sookie took a seat at the dining table. "Which is the best one so far?"
"This one, but Jason ate it all." His glare had Eric chuckling.
"Nothing new there." Sookie laughed as she tried to wipe some of the crumbs off Hunter. "Jase, when was the last time you were at Merlotte's?"
"Not so much in the last week, but pretty much every day before then. Why?"
"Seen anything out of the norm?" Sookie took a piece from the rhubarb pie he was inhaling.
"Apart from Arlene mouthing off about you not giving her job, not much… wait, there was that dude. Sam called him Patrick, he weren't too happy to see him."
"Patrick Furman." Sookie smiled. "Thanks, Jase. If Sam asks..."
"Got nothing to say. This Patrick, he's trouble, ain't he?"
"Yep, but nothing I can't handle." Sookie, stretching her back. "Hunter, you have an hour to get to bed. Your dad is picking you up in the morning." He and Remy were headed back home.
"Okay." He muttered sadly.
Sookie ruffled his hair. "Did your dad tell you that you will be spending Christmas with us?" That had the expected reaction.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. It's not just fun. You will be working on your shield as well." Hunter's smile, despite the thought of training his shields, never faulted.
"Are you going to take the meeting?" Eric pulled Sookie closer as they settled on the sofa. The TV was on with the volume muted.
"I'm intrigued, but no." Sookie looked up at him. "Furman, what I know about him in my nightmares is trouble with a loyal following. Fortunately, I know enough about him for him to leave me alone. I want nothing to do with the Longtooth pack, and that's that."
"I had a great deal of respect for Colonel Flood, and we worked together well. A tradition I hoped the next pack leader would want to continue. In truth, I was hoping Jackson Herveaux would be the pack leader. I don't know much about Furman."
"He will do whatever he can to gain the upper hand, that much I know." Sookie yawned.
"Good to know," Eric grumbled more to himself than anything else.
Sookie was surprised when Eric still insisted they take their trip. Hurricane Katrina had hit the very night gran died, and the work to be done was insurmountable. Eric had acquired more vampires to his area, and to his retinue, he'd added Thalia, Indira, Felicia, and Maxwell Lee.
Of course, there were vampires taking advantage by moving to the area under the pretense of looking for a new place to settle. A lot of them were spies from Nevada. He had left things in Thalia, Indira, Maxwell Lee, and Pam's capable hands for a week, but Pam would insist that any newcomers wait for Eric's return. Sookie would be there to point out the ones she remembered.
She almost felt as though things were back to normal; away from Louisiana, it was easy to pretend she hadn't lost another family member. Their week in Dubai had been just what she needed to rejuvenate. Of course, nothing was ever straightforward where she was concerned. On day three, she started to glow with no effort on her part. Try as she might, she couldn't suppress it. In the end, Claudine had popped in to help. It had taken several hours before she had calmed enough to dampen the glow. Again, her life been her life, her hair continued to glow, but it was dull enough for her to get away with. Of course, a million and one people asked what hair products she used. Sunlight had been her answer; after all, it was true.
Back home, reality hit hard when she found the farmhouse proved too difficult to live in, and she was pretty much living in her apartment. It wasn't much of a commute from Shreveport, but it was something compared to coming from the farmhouse. Attempting to live there without gran proved more heartbreaking than she thought possible.
"Good morning, Sookie." Camille greeted, looking a little too concerned. "We do not have any pressing appointments. You could have taken the day off."
"Thanks, Camille, but I have had enough of my apartment. Honestly, the lack of any productive work feels worse. I'd rather keep busy." She murmured. Jason had taken his mind off his grief with Hunter around; with him gone, her brother had locked himself in his workshop. He'd left her a message telling her just that.
Half an hour into her day, Sam Merlotte called, she took the call simply because it was something to do. "Mr. Merlotte, how can I help you?" Her total avoidance of him was best for both of them. Yes, she was the type capable of maintaining a friendship with an ex, but she couldn't see how she could with Sam. Too many factors made it an impossibility for her.
"Actually, I believe I'm the one who is helping you." Were it anybody else, Sookie's amusement would have been audible.
"Would I be correct in saying you've heard the rumors regarding my gifts?" The silence stretched for bead too long.
"Yes." He finally answered. If she could read his mind, she was sure his tone conveyed someone whose plans had fallen through.
"Thanks for calling, but I need no warning regarding Patrick Furman." She would have been more genuine in her thanks if she hadn't been so sure he was only calling to help because he wanted something in return.
"Can I ask a question?"
"Does the fact that I haven't stepped foot in your bar bother you that much?" Sookie asked, surprised.
"No, it was something your brother said." Of course, Jason had let something slip. "You worked here," Sam said quickly.
"I did, and as grateful as I was for the job, that was in a life I would have had I not been blessed with a second gift. I had to put up with the crazy Sookie insults and everything that went along with it. There is a downside to hearing people's thoughts, and Merlotte's was the best example of that. Now, I don't, and I have no desire to associate with folk who made my life miserable as a teenager. I don't have to step foot into your bar, so I don't. Is there anything else?"
"No, thanks for taking my call. Have a good day." He mumbled.
"You too."
Sookie spent the next several hours after the call staring at her computer; she was prepared for Rhodes and had been ready for a while. Knowing full well she didn't have a single thing to do, she shut down her computer. She was resigned to going home and wallowing in her grief when her personal phone rang. Not many people had that number, and she had those that did in her contacts list. This number was a private caller, and she didn't usually answer those. Anything to delay the inevitable, going home because she foolishly told Eric to stay at Fangtasia tonight. He hadn't stepped foot there in over two weeks, which also meant neglecting sheriff duties.
"Hello." Her caution was warranted.
"Hello, Sookie, it's Andrew." That instantly brought a smile to her face.
"Andrew, I will admit you are the last person I expected to hear from. Last I heard, you had gone back home and left the supernatural behind." Sookie laughed.
His groan said it all; she had been right. "Well, you, my dear, were right; I got bored in month six and high-tailed it back here, only I ended up in Los Angeles. I now represent the vampire queen of Oklahoma." Sookie's smile grew wider. She really should not have told Eric to go to Fangtasia tonight. "She is the reason I'm calling," Andrew added, sounding unsure of himself.
"How long have you been working for her?" Sookie hadn't worked on the contract with Oklahoma; that had been all Hugo, with help from Desmond. Neither had mentioned Andrew, especially Desmond, as Andrew had interned and worked for him.
"In the last few days… this is a conversation I would feel comfortable having in person. I'm in Shreveport, and it would be nice to see you."
"I take it you know where my office is?" Sookie would also rather have this conversation in person. If Andrew was willing to do that, knowing she was a telepath, that went in his favor.
"Yes, I will see you in forty-five minutes. Thank you, Sookie." He muttered gratefully.
Sookie called Eric the second the call ended.