Author's note: I am so sorry it was such a long time since the last time I posted. I never intended for it to be that long, hopefully an extra long chapter will make up for it a bit.

Sookie's POV

A few days went by without hearing from Eric. Even though I was a bit disappointed, it was probably for the best. I needed to find a way to deal with seeing his former flings without my heart breaking. Just because I was in love with him didn't give me any ownership of his body or his feelings, and he had no idea who I even was prior to me going to talk to him.

I spent my days working, doing chores around the house and visiting with Gran. There had been a time where so much of this had felt painfully mundane. I'd been so excited for something new that I'd allowed myself to be drawn into the world of supernatural politics without even realizing it. After everything I'd been through in my other life, it was so nice to just have some calm ordinary days again.

One night while I was at work picking up an order from the kitchen, I heard Lafayette let out a whistle. He made a comment about "sex on a stick" so I turned around to see who had walked in. Arlene also looked, and when she saw our guest, she fluffed her hair and pushed her boobs out. Apparently she was already healed from her relationship with Rene/Drew, even though he'd been a bigot and a murderer.

I started to walk over to greet Eric, but Dawn beat me to it and my heart sank. She greeted him with a "hey baby" and tried to run her finger down his chest. He snatched her finger and pulled it away from his body and snarled at her.

"Do not address me as you would a child or a pet."

She looked startled. "I only meant-"

He cut her off. "In fact, do not address me at all." He walked toward me, leaving a shocked Dawn behind him. I don't think a man had every rejected her before.

When he reached me, he picked up my hand and kissed the back of it. "How is the enchanting Miss Stackhouse tonight?"

I felt a blush rise on my cheeks. I was about to reply when Sam came out from his office. He looked surprised to see Eric.

"Northman," he said. "Can I do something for you, or are you just here to pick up a meal for the evening?"

I could sense Sam's jealousy and disgust at Eric's presence. For someone who wasn't entirely human, Sam was awfully judgmental of vampires for some reason. I knew what he was implying, but I played dumb.

"Oh, I didn't know we'd gotten any True Blood in stock." I said.

Sam looked at me confused. "We didn't- after that other vampire didn't return I didn't see the point in ordering any."

"Well then, how could Eric get a meal here?"

Before Sam could say anything he'd regret, Eric spoke again. "Actually, I was hoping to speak to you and Miss Stackhouse for a moment."

Sam gestured for us to follow him into his office. He sat at his desk and I sat in the chair across from him, Eric chose to remain standing despite there being a second chair.

Eric spoke first. "In a few weeks, I will be taking a trip to Dallas and will be hiring Sookie to accompany me. I would like to offer you one of my waitresses, who I will pay, as a temporary replacement so her absence will not be an inconvenience to you."

A bit high handed of him to just announce this without speaking to me first, but I had told him I wanted to go with him I guess. It was a good plan to send someone in my place too, so that Sam couldn't complain about me leaving him understaffed. But of course, Sam was never reasonable before when it came to me and vampires, so I shouldn't have expected things to go better this time around.

"What exactly are you hiring her for?"

"That is not your concern," Eric replied.

"It is my concern when you're going to be taking one of my workers with you. Do they not have waitresses where you're going? Or do you just want a portable meal?"

"Sam Merlotte! How dare you?" I felt like he had slapped me.

He scowled at me. "Well, what other reason would he have for taking you on a trip?"

"As if you don't know what I can do," I said, rolling my eyes. Before he could interject, I said "And I know what you can do."

He looked confused.

"Woof." Eric said.

"You- that was not your information to share!" Sam was furious.

"He didn't tell me anything. I already knew. You should have told me though."

"So, do you agree to one of my servers working for you temporarily?"

Sam leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He was trying to come up with some way to shift power back to himself. "And what if I don't approve the time you've requested off?"

"She did not request time off. I informed you that she will not be here. I will not ask again- do you want the server?" Eric's voice was icy.

"I don't want your pathetic fang bangers working for me. I'll find someone myself."

"Suit yourself." Eric replied and walked out.

I stood to follow him and Sam told me to stay for a minute.

"The other girls aren't going to be happy about having to cover for you for an unspecified amount of time," he said.

"Then why didn't you accept Eric's offer?!" I felt like my head was going to explode.

"I don't like the idea of you working for him," he said.

"And I don't like the idea of you thinking you have any say in what I do or who I do it with."

"I'm your boss," he argued.

"Yeah, when I'm here working. Not when I'm off the clock, not when it comes to who I spend my time with. You want somebody to boss around, find somebody who's into that, 'cause it's not me."

"Sookie…" he said like he was disappointed in me.

"What?"

"I thought we were friends, why are you being so hostile?"

"Well which one is it? Are you my boss or my friend?"

He was about to say something but I was over it. I had worked for Sam for about five years, plus all the time in my previous timeline. He was so possessive and hot and cold with me, and in general, he was prone to random outbursts of rage. He could blame that on his upbringing or his other abilities, or his cortisol levels or whatever bullshit reason he came up with, but it boiled down to him being a jerk a lot of the time.

He judged who I dated and me for dating them. That was entirely unfair and unreasonable to begin with, but he'd thought it perfectly acceptable to fool around with the Maenad, even knowing she'd attacked and almost killed me. I was at a breaking point. I had a chance at doing things over, and I didn't want to waste any of that time getting emotional whiplash from Sam.

"You know what?" I said. "How about neither?"

"What?"

"I quit." I said, grabbed my purse and walked out the door.

Eric was waiting outside for me. I walked past him and opened my car and threw my purse in and turned to him.

"I hope you weren't kidding about having work to hire me for because I need a new job."

He vamped over to me. "If you are interested in using your gift as a business, I can guarantee that there will be plenty of work for you. Especially if you are willing to travel. Other sheriffs would pay handsomely for your services."

I collapsed sideways onto my driver's seat in relief. He crouched down in front of me. "I would recommend signing a contract with me in order to protect yourself though, that way you can't just be snatched away and forced to work for someone less reasonable than I."

I nodded. "You going to contact Mr. Cataliades?"

He smiled. "Have I already done this?"

I shook my head. "No, but I know him. He's a good man and the best in the business."

"That he is. Very well, go home and get some rest. I will contact you in the next few days to get your contract set up and plan for our trip."

That sounded like a great plan and I told him so. He waited for me to drive off before getting into his own car. A small gesture, but one that showed he cared enough to make sure I was going to be able to get home.

OoOoOo

The day was finally here to leave on our trip to Dallas. I was all packed and just waiting for Eric to pick me up and take me to the airport. When I'd told him that someone had attempted to kidnap me the first time I went, he decided he was more comfortable taking me himself rather than me going during the day while he slept. Even if the circumstances behind our trip this time were very different, he preferred caution whenever necessary.

I hated the thought of leaving Gran behind when I'd only had her back for such a short time, but she said she didn't feel up to travelling. I suspected (I could have peeked in her mind to know for sure, but I did my best to stay out of her head whenever I could) that she felt she'd be out of place and not have much to do. Even at her age, Gran preferred to keep herself busy. I didn't like that she'd be home alone without any neighbors or anything to check on her if something happened, so I called Jason and he promised he'd stop by every day to check up on her and visit. Those two were old gossip buddies and she was sure to serve him a good home cooked meal if he dropped by, so it was no hardship to ask of him.

The first time I interacted with Jason in this timeline, it had taken me a moment to remind myself that Jason could be a great guy and that this Jason wasn't the one who had betrayed me like the one from before. I didn't tell him about any of my time travelling; he just wouldn't understand.

He stopped by the house to see me off before I left with Eric. He said it was his duty as man of the family to scope out who "this guy" was that was taking me on a trip. I'm sure that was partly true, but I suspected he also wanted a chance to see a real vampire up close and personal. After all, since Bill's "mishap" we didn't have any vampires in Bon Temps and Jason wasn't really the type to drive out to Fangtasia and behave like a tourist.

While we were visiting, something else occurred to me.

"Hey Jase," I said, trying to figure out how to word it. "You know how sometimes I just know things?" He didn't understand my mind reading, but had always accepted that I knew things that other people didn't, not realizing that I wasn't predicting the future but just hearing what people were going to do. That was actually going to be a big help here.

"Sure," he said, taking a sip of beer.

"Well, if you meet a girl named Crystal Norris, you need to stay away from her."

"How come?"

"If you get involved with her, your life will change completely and not for the better. So, you meet her and you just pretend you're not into her, no matter how pretty and interesting she is, got it?"

"Lots of pretty girls out there, I can stay away from one if I know she's going to cause the bad kind of trouble."

I smiled at him gratefully. The other Jason had hooked up with Crystal on New Year's Eve. She was from a tiny off shoot of Bon Temps called Hot Shot. Everyone that lived there was related and they were all werepanthers. One of the other members of the pack/town had been jealous of the attention Crystal was giving Jason and kidnapped him and bit him a bunch of times until he got turned into a shifter too. He didn't transform into a full on cat since he wasn't born that way, but he turned into more of the wolf/man hybrid you see in werewolf movies, except he was a panther instead of a wolf.

All that had been awful, even though Jason ended up liking being what he was. The problem happened when he and Crystal got married. Hot Shot does things differently than the rest of the world, they have rituals and punishments very different than ours. At the wedding, Crystal's uncle Calvin (a friend of mine and their pack leader) had stood up for her as her nearest relative and I'd stood up for Jason. I didn't really understand at the time how important that part of the ceremony had been.

Crystal got pregnant and Jason was real excited to be a dad. The problem was, Crystal wasn't a faithful wife. Jason pissed her off one day and embarrassed her, so to get back and him she started sleeping around. I know, I don't see how that was appropriate revenge either. Jason figured it out and set it up that I would catch Crystal in the act. He told me he was worried about her being home alone and pregnant (she'd miscarried a few times before, one of them Jason's baby) and asked me to pop over and see how she was doing since he couldn't leave work. Well, I walked in to check on her and there she was, in bed with Dove Beck. Calvin pulled up just as I was storming off. Jason had made sure someone would catch her and there was no denying her betrayal.

Since the panther clan lived by tooth and claw, the punishment for breaking a vow was breaking a claw (or a finger while in human form.) As Calvin had stood up for Crystal, this meant since she was pregnant and couldn't take the physical punishment, he would take it for her. Jason was supposed to break Calvin's finger, but I had stood up for him at their wedding and he said he wanted me to stand in for him during this ceremony since Calvin was standing in for Crystal. Oh yeah, and since she'd broken such a serious vow, it was better to break multiple fingers/claws. I had to slam a brick down on my friend's hand and break his fingers. Calvin never harbored any ill will toward me for it because he knew what he was getting into, but I was gutted every time I saw him for a long time.

I didn't think I could handle going through all that a second time, and was so grateful that Jason accepted my warning with a promise not to get involved with her. I could almost pretend that the horrible things that had happened had been a really awful dream and just work on the relationships I had now.

I heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway and stood up to answer the door. Jason jumped up and playfully pushed me back onto the couch.

"Don't rush to the door when a man calls on you. It ain't lady like."

I just laughed and stood back up, following Jason to the door. He opened the door and on the other side stood Eric. Every time I saw him it took a moment to catch my breath; he was the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen, and I was still adjusting to the fact that he was really here again. Today he wore jeans and a black Tshirt with the Fangtasia logo on it and his long blonde hair was down. He smiled at me and introduced himself to my brother. Jason, not knowing vampire protocol, stuck his hand out to shake. I was so impressed by Eric- he actually completed the handshake rather sneer at the attempt.

Jason stepped aside and gestured for Eric to come in, but Eric stood on the other side of the door.

"I need a verbal invitation to enter a private residence," he said.

"I never rescinded the one Gran and I gave you," I told him.

His smile widened, "Good to know." And he stepped over the threshold.

Jason was looking at his hand with an odd expression on his face.

"What's the matter?" I asked him.

"Why's your hand so cold, man?" he asked, looking back at Eric.

"I apologize," he responded, "lower body temperature is a side effect of my condition."

"Condition? Oh, are you sick?"

"Jason!" I interjected, "you are not that dumb!"

A few expressions quickly crossed his face before settling on embarrassment. "You meant 'cuz you're a vampire," he said.

Eric nodded, his face expressionless, but I knew him well enough to see the corner of his mouth twitching as he held back his laughter.

I gave Gran and my brother a hug and then picked up my bags. Eric took the bags from me, said how nice it was to meet Jason and see Gran again, and escorted me out the door.

OoOoOoOoOo

Eric guided us through the airport and onto the plane. I was glad he was with me. Even though I've gotten myself through it before, it was much less stressful when I had his help. We were in our seats and the plane was preparing for takeoff when my nerves overtook me. I hate flying, but the takeoff and landing are the worst part. I could feel my heart racing and my breath was coming in short bursts. I've flown several times now, but something about this trip had me more on edge than ever before.

I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing when I felt Eric take my hand in his.

"Not a fan of flying?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"I've been able to fly for a very long time, though I admit I was very wary of aircrafts when they first came about."

I opened my eyes and looked at him. "Somehow I often forget how many things you've lived through the invention of."

I relaxed into Eric's silence while the plane took off. Once we were in the air and he could tell I was calmer, he reached into his carryon bag and pulled out a folder.

"I have your contract here, I thought we could go over it on the flight, if you feel comfortable."

I looked it over and asked questions where it was necessary, argued that I was being offered too much and finally agreed to the amount, with the stipulation that when I worked for someone other than him, he received a finder's fee or a percentage of my earnings. He thought it was silly that I insisted on it, but since one of the parts of the contract included me having a trusted escort (which would most likely be him the majority of the time) I didn't think he should be away from his other business(es) to take care of me since he would be losing money if he did.

The contract included that all of my travel, meal, and lodging was covered by whoever hired me, as well as any medical expenses incurred on the job. Potential clients had to pay 500 dollars to consult with me and it was up to me to decide if I took the job or not. I thought it seemed steep, especially since if I took the job I would be paid significantly more, but Eric said it would help reduce the amount of vampires who just wanted to get a look at me. Eric and I both had to agree before I accepted a job or a meeting, since he might see nefarious plotting that I wouldn't. It was also put in that no one was allowed to contact me without first consulting with him unless it was a returning client, and a severe penalty to anyone who tried to go around him. He put in every measure he could to ensure my safety and I greatly appreciated it.

Before I knew it, we were landing. Eric held my hand again to help me remain calm, and guided me through everything. The only other time I'd landed it the Dallas airport, I'd been ambushed by someone trying to kidnap me. Even though it didn't make sense for it to happen this time, I still sent out my mental feelers to make sure no one was plotting against Eric or me. When he saw that I was trying to focus, he put his hand on my shoulder to help me focus.

"All clear?" he asked when I looked up at him.

I nodded and he led the way to the baggage claim. Once we had that, we went to the parking garage and he opened the back of a black SUV. When I asked about it, he said that Godric had instructed one of his people to leave it here for us and told him where it was, and the keys were overnighted to Eric at home. Vampires have come up with some pretty brilliant ways to solve problems.

As we were driving to Godric's house I suddenly remember Isabel and Hugo.

"Hey, so before we get there, you should probably know, and find a way to inform Godric and his nest mates, that given the opportunity, Isabel's human will betray them to the Fellowship of the Sun. He's addicted to her and she won't turn him and that's going to turn into resentment."

"Good to know," he said with a nod.

We pulled into Godric's neighborhood and I was again struck at how strange the area was. The lots were very small with very large houses on them, leaving absolutely no yard. It was strange enough to see, but I'm used to having way more yard than house, so it seemed extra bizarre from my perspective. When we reached the largest house, Eric parked in the driveway. He came around to my side of the car and helped me out.

Suddenly I was nervous about meeting Godric. What if he didn't like me, or I was dressed wrong? I looked down at my dress. It was pale yellow with white daisies scattered at the bottom and I had on flat, brown leather sandals.

"You look beautiful," Eric whispered in my ear.

I smiled up at him, "I thought I was supposed to be the mind reader."

He offered up his elbow and I took it and he escorted me to the front door.

After he knocked, a pale woman with long straight, dark hair opened the door. It was Isabel.

"Hello Eric," she said with a nod to him. "Godric is in his study." She stood aside and allowed us to enter.

Previous me would have been irritated to have been ignored like that, but I understood better now. I was just a measly human and in general, to vampires that automatically meant I was lower in status. I didn't like it, or agree with it, but I understood their thinking and knew better than to cause a fuss about it.

As we walked through the house to Godric's office, I took in the surroundings. The living room was very large and open with hallways off each side. One led to the dining room, where I'd previously met with Godric's nestmates to discuss his disappearance. Connected to that was the kitchen. We headed the opposite direction to the other hallway which contained closed doors and stairs to other rooms. I'd only been in one of them previously, and that was when Stan had punished Hugo and Isabel by chaining them up across the room from one another. I internally shuddered remembering it. Stan's thought process was that Isabel would be hungry for Hugo's blood but unable to have it, and Hugo would be hungry for Isabel's body and unable to have it. He was released after a little while and given a day's head start to escape. So noble. Logically, I knew there wasn't any "appropriate" form of punishment for Hugo; he hadn't broken any laws, so the police weren't going to do anything to him, but he had majorly betrayed the vampires, and me, so something had to be done. I'd reflected on the situation many times, and I'd never been able to come up with a punishment that made sense.

As though thinking of someone could conjure their presence, Hugo walked past us on the way to the kitchen. Eric must have felt me tense, because he gently patted my arm. I knew better than to say anything now though. We reached a door that was different than the others and Eric stopped in front of it and knocked.

"Come in," a voice called from inside.

Eric released my arm and went into the room. Godric stood from his seat at his desk and Eric bowed deeply to him.

"It is good to see you my child," Godric said. "And this is your friend?" he asked, inclining his head toward me.

"Yes, this is Sookie Stackhouse," Eric said, guiding me forward.

I dipped my head in greeting, and gave him a small wave.

"It's wonderful to see you Godric," I said.

OoOoOoOo

Godric's POV

Two thousand years I have walked this earth. I have watched as the world around me constantly changed. I remember very little of my human life anymore, although I can perfectly recall every moment as a vampire. It has its advantages and disadvantages. Lately that perfect memory has cursed me with the memories of all the things that were done to me and the horrors that I have inflicted upon others.

My maker was a monster, and though long dead, his teachings still haunt me. For centuries he trained me to be his perfect student. He would feed from humans without first glamouring them, reveling in their fear and pain. When I would not do the same, he would punish me by torturing me, silvering me, withholding blood from me, flaying the skin from my body. As a vampire, I always heal, but it does not lessen the pain of an injury. After hundreds of years of doing his bidding, nearly all of my humanity was lost. We were the things that go bump in the night, the creature that children look for under their beds, the terrifying stories that were told around fires.

One night, we came upon a village that had heard tales of our reign of terror. At that time, science was not anything like it is today so tales of monsters and magic were more readily believed. They heard the stories, they knew what we were. My maker was messy; he left witnesses. When we came to their village they were prepared. They had gathered up all the silver they could find and hid, leaving one unlucky person out as bait. When we spotted him, my maker thought he was the only villager left (it was not uncommon for disease or poverty to wipe out entire tribes) and sped off to feed. I stayed back in the shadows, knowing that if he felt I was competition to his meal that I would be punished. Ironically, his selfishness is what saved my life.

As I hid in the tree line, I watched as the villagers descended upon my clueless master. He should have heard them coming, he should have sensed the movement, but he was too focused on his prey. They held their silver trinkets and chains and pressed them against him. He fell to his knees, weakened and in pain. They bound him with ropes and chains, then stuffed all the silver into his clothing so that it touched his bare skin. He screamed out in agony, cursed them, used his maker's command to call me to help him. Although it caused me immense pain, as though my heart was being crushed, I resisted his call. I resisted long enough to watch them pull out a wooden stake and shove it through his chest. He went limp and then started flaking away into ashes. For a moment, there was a pain at the loss of our connection (purely physical, I held no emotion other than hatred toward him) and then an enormous surge of relief and freedom. It reminded me of the time as a human child when I had fallen into the river and was pulled under the water until my lungs were burning and then suddenly my father pulled me to the surface. That first breath of air was heaven. I didn't need air anymore, but it was as though I had been drowning for hundreds of years and someone had finally pulled me free.

I silently thanked the villagers who had released me and disappeared into the night. I roamed alone for the next few centuries, trying to figure out how to survive without becoming like him. I always glamoured those that I fed from and made sure there were no witnesses. I tried my best not to take more than I needed and I never killed or tortured humans for sport. The only humans that I killed were those at the brink of dying already, those that were injured in battle or a hunt, it seemed to be a mercy to glamour their pain away and set them free, and at the same time I got the nourishment I needed.

I became a vigilante of sorts; hunting the vampires that acted as my maker did. They were going to get us all hunted and killed, and they needed to pay for their crimes. After awhile I became known as Death. Whispers of the boy who met the soldiers at their last moments followed me and not a single vampire that had taken me on had survived to torture another.

One night, after I had been on my own for several hundred years, I discovered a group of men (who are now known as Vikings) who were in battle with another tribe. I was struck by the skill and leadership of one of the men. He was enormously tall and fought as though he were made for it, moved his sword as though it was just an extension of his being. I became fascinated and tracked them for several nights until the warrior became critically injured. His men carried him off to safety and began building him a funeral pyre. This man was the first being of any kind that I found myself feeling anything for since I was a human and I was not ready to see him ended.

Though I'd long sworn off killing humans, I had to save him and his men were in the way. I swooped through them, faster than could be seen and killed them all, then stood in front of the dying giant. He asked me if I was Death and I said that I was; he replied that I was just "a little boy" and inquired about his men. When I informed them that they were all dead, he called me a swine. I told him that I had been watching him fight and he said he would fight me at that moment if he was able. I invited him to become Death's companion, to live in the dark with me, that we would be each other's father, brother, son.

For the next few centuries Eric and I traveled together and I taught him how to live as a vampire. When I felt he was ready to be on his own I released him to make his own way, but kept track of him through our bond and we kept in touch. When he made Pam he invited me to come meet her and I was pleased to see how well they were doing. We both remained in the states, and took on roles of leadership. I was a sheriff in Texas, he in Louisiana. Neither of us had any interest in becoming royalty, but it was better to have a decent amount of power than just be stuck following another.

The creation of the telephone and then internet made keeping in touch much easier, but I slowly started pulling back. He had his own life, he was a successful businessman, and then with the Great Revelation he was constantly busy with Fangtasia. It was so strange not having to glamour someone for food; rather the humans willingly offered themselves, often begging to be bitten.

There were many things that I was ashamed of in my long life, but turning Eric was what I was most pleased with. However, I found myself becoming despondent, simply tired of this long existence. Though I was surrounded by vampires and could easily find a human companion should I want one, I was lonely as well. I closed off my connection to Eric so he would not feel me, even though it added to my loneliness. I wanted him to continue thriving and not being concerned about me; I was giving serious consideration to meeting the sun.

Eric realized that I had closed our bond and began trying all forms of coming into contact with me. It wasn't fair to him to shut him out without explanation so I finally answered one of his calls and he expressed his desire to visit and bring a friend along. He denied that she was his companion, but he had never felt strongly enough about a human before to introduce her to me, and I found myself intrigued.

When their plans to visit were scheduled, I found myself feeling a flicker of interest in life again. At the very least, I hoped that meeting this girl would give me peace that Eric would be fine in my absence.

I had been sitting at my desk, working on the countless piles of paperwork that came with running an area when there was a knock on the door. Eric came in and I stood to greet him and his friend. He bowed to me and then introduced us.

The woman dipped her head at me and then waved. She said it was wonderful to see me and her face lit up with a smile. Her word choice was not lost on me; she said it was wonderful to see me, not meet me. My curiosity was piqued- if I had met her before, I would have remembered. I have perfect recall, and in addition to that, she was beautiful.

Before I could comment on her wording, she reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. She held it up to me and I read "Is there any chance of this room being bugged?" For a moment, I thought she was implying an infestation of some kind, and then realized she meant a listening device. I gestured for them to sit before speaking.

"This room is warded against intruders and eavesdroppers of any kind- magical or mechanical."

She nodded in relief. "Good. I have some important things to tell you then."

She went on to tell me about Isabel's human Hugo and that he had been in contact with the Fellowship of the Sun, that he was so upset about her refusal to turn him that he was going to turn on all of us completely. It had actually occurred to me to turn myself in to them should I decide to meet the sun, but I would not have done it in a way that put the rest of my nest in danger. She must have read something on my face, because she suddenly looked upset.

"Oh, and I know you've considered going to them, don't you dare!"

I must have looked as surprised as I felt, because Eric smiled and said, "You would be surprised at the things she knows."

"Is she psychic?"

"She is right here, and would prefer to be addressed rather than discussed. And no, not a psychic," Sookie chimed in.

I apologized, and then Eric informed me that she was the one that told him that something was wrong with me. He had felt the bond closed, but did not realized how low I had been feeling prior to me closing it off.

"So, not a psychic, yet you have the ability to know what is going on before it happens? Are you a very powerful seer?"

She shook her head. "Since I know Eric trusts you implicitly, I feel comfortable telling you the truth. You and I have actually met before, in another life."

"Surely you are not implying reincarnation. Even if our souls had crossed paths it would not have given you knowledge of current events."

"Not reincarnation… time travel."

"I have lived thousands of years, hundreds of lifetimes and have never seen proof of time travel."

"I'm guessing you also haven't met many fairies," she said with a smile. "Though I am sure you have heard of their magic."

I nodded.

"And you've heard of a cluviel dor?"

I raised an eyebrow, but nodded again.

"Well, some of my relatives are fairies, and one of them gifted another with a cluviel dor. It happened to come into my possession, though I was unaware of its power, it just gave me comfort and made me feel close to my grandmother. One night, I accidentally made a wish on it and sent myself back about a year and a half in time."

"So far, she has informed me of a thief on my staff, a bigoted murderer in her town, drainers in my area, my queen's potential travesty of a marriage, a maenad on its way to my area, V addicted Were witches, and the fact that you were in a very bad place. We've come to visit because she wants to ensure that you do not meet the sun…again."

I was going to reply to Eric, but Sookie spoke up again. "Oh, I'm also a telepath."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Eric's POV

We visited with Godric for a long time, but eventually dawn was approaching and we needed to get to our resting places and Sookie desperately needed some sleep. I gathered her bags and showed her to the room she would be staying in. I assured her that it locked and that no one would be coming in while she slept.

Before I left to my own rest, I turned to her. "You know," I said, "something occurred to me while we were talking to Godric."

"What's that?" she asked.

"You have all of this knowledge of things that were to come, and so far things have played out as they had for you the first time. Yet Bill Compton died outside of your place of work. It seems unlikely for that to have been the only thing different."

Her legs gave out and she collapsed onto the bed and her eyes filled with tears. I crouched down in front of her and she flinched.

I spoke quietly, "I feel as though I know you well enough to at least believe that if you knew something was going to happen to him, you had to have a good reason for allowing it."

She responded, her voice just above a whisper and a single tear slid down her cheek. "I loved him once, you know. The Rats got to him in my other life and I saved him."

I wiped her tear with the pad of my thumb and licked the moisture away. If her tears tasted this sweet, I couldn't imagine what her blood would taste like. "Why didn't you this time?"

"Saving him and then dating him brought so much pain and misery to my life. I just thought, hey he was dumb enough to go out there with them, why should I stop him?" More tears fell down her face.

"Something tells me that the pain and misery was not just the pain of a breakup."

Her chin wobbled and she shook her head. "Because of my relationship with Bill, Rene, or Drew whatever his name is…he killed my grandmother, he killed my cat, he almost killed me. Bill lied and left me for his maker and when she turned on him and tortured him, I saved him. My repayment for that was being raped and nearly drained. You saved me from him, by the way." She looked up at me with a weak smile. "I found out he was only with me because the queen had sent him on an errand to fetch her a telepath. The day after I met him, I was beaten nearly to death by the drainers I had saved him from. He killed them and gave me his blood to save me. But he had actually glamoured them to attack me so that he could get his blood into me to make me more attracted to him, because he couldn't just glamour me and take me away."

I felt my fangs come down. "He was no great loss, and I'm furious that those things happened to you before. He was an idiot for allowing those drainers to overpower him." I lightly gripped her chin to make sure she was looking at me. "I am glad that you let him die, he deserved it. I am only upset that I cannot punish him for what he did to you."

"You're not angry with me?"she asked.

I shook my head, then wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I don't want you to ever be afraid of me. I find myself…rather attached to you." I leaned in and lightly brushed my lips against hers.

A true smile crossed her face when I pulled back.

"Ok. Let's all get some sleep." I pulled the covers down on her bed, sat her bag next to it and showed her where the attached bathroom was. I kissed the top of her head and said goodnight, then left to go to Godric's bed. After so long apart, I just wanted the comfort of laying next to him for awhile.