It was a warm night in Bon Temps, just a little after midnight. Adele Stackhouse was playing cards with her granddaughter, Brooklynne Stackhouse, in her kitchen. Entertaining the 23-year-old girl was nothing unusual for the old lady. Brooke had special needs. Not that she had any disability in particular, on the contrary, she had special abilities, some would even say supernatural ones.
Like her sister, Sookie Stackhouse, Brooklynne was a telepath. But she was more than that. Her strong telepathic ability made it difficult for her to focus on anything and she spent most of her time, like most of her life, trying to control it. And that's what she was doing. Playing cards with her grandmother was a fun ritual but also a good exercise. The rule was simple: don't cheat.
Brooklynne Stackhouse was bored most of the time. It's not that she wasn't allowed to leave her house, she just shouldn't. So, she read a lot. Listened to music. Learnt new things on the internet. Danced. Sang. Played with her grandmother.
As Adele was about to win their current game, her first granddaughter interrupted them. Sookie was coming back from work, the blonde 25-year-old was wearing her uniform, the shorts and the white shirt with "Merlotte's" written on it. She appeared to be in a great mood.
"Hey Gran."
"Hi, honey," Adele greeted her with a smile as she removed her glasses. She was wearing a long and white old-fashioned nightgown.
"Guess what happened tonight?"
Adele thought for a moment and a smile formed on her face.
"You got a date!"
Sookie frowned.
"Um... no..." she said, a bit bothered, "a vampire came into the bar!" she told her before Adele had the chance to be disappointed.
The old woman gasped. "Oh! Did he have fangs?"
Brooke chuckled quietly.
"Yeah, but most of the time they stayed put away."
"Did he bite anybody?"
"No," Sookie laughed. "He just had a glass of wine. Well, he ordered it but didn't drink it. I think he just wanted some company."
"Did you like him?" Adele asked with a grin and Brooke looked up at her big sister, curious too.
Sookie looked down and shrugged.
"He was real interesting."
Adele smiled and hummed, looking at her granddaughter as if she could see right through her. Brooklynne actually could. Sookie's thoughts echoed in her head as she heard them in her sister's mind.
"You know what else?" she said as she sat down next to her. "I couldn't read his thoughts."
Brooklynne's smile disappeared as she focused on her sister's face. "Quiet?" She asked silently.
"Yep," Sookie replied out loud. "I guess we can't read vampires' thoughts because they're dead. It was so peaceful," she sighed as she remembered being alone with him.
As the night's events went through her head, Brooklynne saw it all. Bill, the vampire, entering Merlotte's, ordering the wine, being attacked in the parking lot, Sookie rescuing him. The silence.
"Dangerous," Brooklynne said as she looked back at her cards.
Sookie knew what she was referring to, but she didn't want to alert her grandmother so didn't reply.
"I'll let you go to bed," Sookie said as she got up.
She kissed her grandmother's cheek before walking up to her bedroom.
"G'night Brooke."
"Dream sweet dreams for me," she sang quietly, like she would sometimes.
"Come on, honey, let's finish this game."
***
It was a hot morning. Sookie took the opportunity to put on a two-piece bathing suit and lie down a lounge chair, thinking about nothing but the vampire she had met the night before, and the weird dream that followed. Brooklynne was near her, wearing a short yellow dress, her long blonde hair brought up in a ponytail, and dancing barefoot on the grass. The music was in her head. She wasn't paying attention to anything. Not even to her brother who had just stopped his truck in front of her. He got out quickly, not even bothering to say hello, shut the door of his car and walked straight up to Sookie.
"Hey! How come you didn't tell me you beat up the Rattrays last night?"
"I haven't even seen you since then!"
"Where's Gran?"
"Hanging the laundry out back, and you keep your voice down! I don't want her to know about any of this."
"Fortenberry couldn't wait till I got to work this morning to tell me about it!"
"Hoyt Fortenberry? How the heck does he know?"
"He went over to the Rats last night to buy some weed. And Denise drove up like she wanted to kill somebody, she was so mad. The only way she would sell him any weed was if he would drive Mack to the hospital in Monroe."
"Uh-huh. Well, did Hoyt tell you that Mack came after me with a knife?"
"Motherfucker! You want me to kick his ass?"
"I already took care of that, thank you."
Jason nodded, content to hear that justice had already been served.
"Well did you know that in addition to drugs, the Rats also happen to be vampire drainers?" she asked, and her brother frowned. "Yep. One of my customers last night was a vampire and they were draining him in the parking lot. I couldn't have that."
Jason took a deep breath, as if he were angry. Brooke was listening to them but when she heard why Jason didn't like vampires, she took an interest in the conversation.
"Sookie, you do not want to get mixed up with vampires. Trust me."
"Oh, shut up. Even if you hate vampires, you can't let trash like the Rats go and drain them. It's not like siphoning gas out of a car. They would have left him to die."
"Who fucking cares? He's already dead."
"That's not his fault!"
Jason sighed. He was about to walk out when a thought crossed his mind.
"What did he look like?"
"Handsome... in a sorta... sorta old-fashioned, like from a movie on TCM."
"Was he bald-headed?"
"No," she almost chuckled. "He had really nice hair."
"Tattoos?"
"None that I could see," she shrugged.
"It's not your fault that they hover," Brooklynne suddenly started to sing as she kept dancing, looking up at the sky as if her siblings weren't just right in front of her, "I mean no disrespect, it's my right to be hellish, I still get jealous."
"I'm not jealous!" Jason stopped her and she laughed with her usual childlike laugh.
"Jason!" Adele interrupted them. She was walking towards them with a basket of wet laundry. "Sakes alive, boy, where have you been keeping yourself? You get on over here and hug my neck."
"You get here, Gran," he said as he stepped towards her to do as she said. "How's my girl?"
"You're all sweaty."
"I know."
"You want some iced tea?"
"I would love some iced tea," he nodded as he let her grandmother drag him inside the house.
***
Jason stayed for lunch, during which he ate all of his food and most of Sookie's and Brooke's who were used to it. The phone rang, making Adele get up and leave the kitchen. Brooklynne focused on neither of their thoughts but rather escaped her own. She did that, sometimes. She left. Her body was still there, but her mind was travelling. She often went to "other worlds" as Adele called them. The doctors called it ADD. Brooke had no name for it as she wasn't always in the same place. At that moment, like most of the time, she was at the pond in the cemetery, except there was more light and more sun but it wasn't hot. There were other people there, but they couldn't see each other, she just felt their presence.
"Brooke, stay with us," she heard Sookie say and she came back.
She looked around and her siblings were still eating their food, but Adele was nowhere to be found. She could hear her on the phone in the other room.
"How long?" she asked.
"You've only been gone for about 5 minutes," Sookie replied.
"Enough time for me to eat your food," Jason smirked. "You weren't hungry, were you?"
She didn't answer. She never really did.
"That was Everlee Mason," Adele said as she walked back in the kitchen with the phone in her hand. She had a horrified look on her face. "Guess who was found strangled to death in her apartment? Maudette Pickens."
It was like an alarm ringing inside Brooklynne's head, and it was coming from her brother's mind. Jason had a worried look on his face and it didn't take long for Brooklynne to find out everything.
"Oh my Lord," Sookie breathed out.
"She didn't show up to work and wasn't answering her phone, and so her boss called Bud Dearborne. He rode over, got the manager to let him in and they found her."
"I went to high school with Maudette!"
"Can you believe it? A murder in Bon Temps?"
"Well, why are you surprised?" Jason spoke up. "Now that we got ourselves a vampire."
"Just because he's a vampire doesn't mean he's a murderer," Sookie objected.
"Oh, come on! Fang-bangers go missing all the time in Shreveport. New Orleans. They never find them, but everybody knows the vampires are killing them and then disposing of the bodies."
"What's a 'fang-banger'?"
"A vampire groupie," Sookie answered, but that didn't help her grandmother much. "Men and women who like to get bitten..."
"My stars!"
"Maudette was a fang-banger?" Sookie asked, more than surprised. "How do you know that?"
Jason didn't answer right away. He was stuck. Brooke was listening silently to his every thought, but guilt and worry was all over his face.
"I don't know, Sookie!" he replied loudly, with a defensive tone. "The way that you just know things sometimes!" he hit the table with his fist before he got up and took his plate to the sink.
Sookie watched him walk around the table carefully but didn't reply. Her brother put down his plate and turned around, leaning against the sink.
He sighed. "There's also hookers who specialize in vampires," he told them with a calmer tone, "they drink Tru Blood to keep their supply up and they keep a bodyguard there in case the vamp gets a little too frisky," he finished with a grin as if he thought the information amusing.
His sisters and grandmother did not, however, find that information amusing, and just stared at him in silence with a curious and suspicious look. Even though Sookie was trying to stay out of her brother's mind, it was not a choice for Brooklynne who already knew everything.
"I read that in a magazine," he lied.
"I wonder how much one would charge for something like that," Adele said.
"A thousand bucks," he answered, almost too quickly.
"See, now that just makes me sick," Sookie sighed.
"I know," Adele agreed, "what kind of cheap woman could ever do something like that?"
"No, it makes me sick that they're getting a thousand bucks to lay there and do nothing while I bust my ass for 10 bucks an hour plus tips," she clarified.
"Oh, I don't think they just lay there," Jason added with another grin, "I think they're expected to... you know, participate."
"Ew," the waitress grimaced.
"Yeah," Jason chuckled.
But his smile gradually disappeared as his eyes wandered around and his mind got lost in dark thoughts. The sudden change made Sookie curious and she focused on her brother's mind, trying to hear something.
"Well, uh... thanks for lunch, Gran," he said before he walked out of the kitchen.
Brooke watched as her sister got up and went after their brother. Sookie stopped him, putting her hands on his shoulders and turning him around to face her.
"What?" he asked with a frown.
She didn't answer and took his face in her hands, closing her eyes as a way to focus.
"This can't be happening to me. How could I lose control? How come she..."
But before he could finish his thought, he realized what she was doing and stopped her. He pushed her hands away and stepped back.
"Don't try that with me, goddamn it! I'm your brother!" he shouted before he left the house.
Sookie watched him leave and didn't try to stop him this time. She slowly made her way back to the kitchen where Adele was waiting for an explanation. Brooklynne wasn't paying attention anymore, and she was playing with a lock of hair, twirling it around her finger, looking at it like it contained the answer to the meaning of life. When she was like this, people around her had just started to assume that they could say anything, and she wouldn't hear them. But she did. She heard everything, spoken or unspoken. She was just really good at keeping secrets. Especially other people's secrets.
***
Sookie left in the evening with a mission. Of course, she was going to work, but she had another task to accomplish. Adele Stackhouse was head of the Descendants of the Glorious Dead, a social organization she created to honor the American Civil War. People met to discuss the war and the effects it had on Bon Temps. Adele wondered if Bill would agree to come and speak at one of their meetings about his recollections of the war. Sookie agreed to ask him, it was a good excuse to speak to him again, after all. It was all Adele could think about that night, as she played Scrabble with her granddaughter. She tried to stay up as late as she could to ask Sookie when she came back from work but as she was falling asleep on the couch, she went to bed around 1AM, after she made sure Brooklynne was sleeping in her room.
It was the first thing they talked about in the morning. Sookie was sitting at the kitchen table, wearing the top of a green bathing suit with white dots and a very short white dress with green flowers. She was watching TV, listening to Reverend Theodore Newlin screaming at Nan Flanagan, a vampire rights advocate from the American Vampire League. Brooklynne was there too, sitting in front of her sister and turning her back on the TV. She was playing with the bottom of her green lime shirt and tugging at it.
"I don't think Jesus would mind if somebody was a vampire," Sookie told her grandmother who was fixing breakfast.
"I don't either, honey," she said as she put a plate of food on the table.
Sookie took a bite and hummed. "Is this sausage different from what you usually make?"
"No."
"Uh... It tastes so much more complex than it usually does."
"Oh dear, you think it's gone bad?"
"No, it's delicious. It's like, I can close my eyes and I can see the farm the pig lived on and feel the sun and rain on my face and even taste the earth that the herbs grew out of."
Adele stared at her with surprise and curiosity. She didn't understand where all of this was coming from.
Brooklynne laughed. "You're weird."
They were interrupted by the sound of the back door opening and closing.
"Hey, Miss Stackhouse," Tara said with a smile as she stepped in the kitchen. She was wearing a blue top and a pair of jeans and her black hair was tied up in a messy bun.
"Good morning, Tara," Adele greeted.
Tara went for the coffee pot, but it was empty. As she was about to make more, Adele stopped her.
"No, you sit down. I'll make a new pot," she said before she kissed her forehead.
"All right," Tara laughed.
She sat between Sookie and Brooklynne with an empty mug in her hand.
"What's up, Brooke?"
The girl raised her head and smiled as soon as she saw her friend, as if she hadn't heard her come in.
"Hi Tara."
"What are we thinking about today?"
Brooklynne ignored the question, as always, and leaned forward, putting her pale hand on Tara's dark arm.
"You're pretty," she smiled.
Tara laughed. "Well, aren't you cute?"
Brooklynne smiled again but didn't reply. She then leaned back in her seat and started playing with the bottom of her shirt again, ignoring the rest of the world.
"Any news about Jason?"
"Yeah, we heard from Everly already. They let him go last night."
"I knew they would."
"I didn't," Sookie shrugged.
Tara was offended by the lack of faith her sister had in her brother. He was dumb, for sure, but he wasn't a murderer.
"Well, I'm glad to see you're still alive. You obviously did not hook up with that vampire last night."
Brooklynne chuckled, still looking down at her lap. Sookie and Tara gave her a quick look but went back to ignoring her. The look on Sookie's face answered Tara's question.
"Oh, Sookie, sometimes you are just plain dumb."
"Shut up! Luckily Gran was in bed when I got in last night."
"Did he bite you?"
"No."
"Are you sure? You know they can hypnotize you."
"Yeah, and black people are lazy, and Jews have horns!"
Tara rolled her eyes. She turned around when she heard Adele coming back in the kitchen.
"You must be glad they let Jason go, huh, Miss Stackhouse."
"I can't even believe that they arrested him to begin with! I have a good mind to call Bud Dearborne and chew him out. Jason's a good boy. Everybody knows that."
Brooklynne chuckled again. No one had time to say anything more as the phone started to ring and Adele picked it up.
"Hello? Oh, hey! Everley!" she greeted over the phone as she left the kitchen.
As soon as she was gone, Jason came in by the backdoor.
"Am I too late for breakfast?" he asked. "Oh, hey Tara!"
"Hey. Hey Jason," she stuttered like a 15-year-old talking to her crush. "I'm so glad they didn't lock you up."
Jason opened the fridge and took out a plate of cold sausages. He froze for a few seconds then turned around and leaned against the fridge.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, me too. I don't even know why they suspected me," he continued as he took a bite of a sausage. "I think somebody heard I'd been with Maudette?"
"Had you?" Sookie asked.
"No," he answered with an annoyed tone.
"Are you sure? She was a woman," his sister insisted.
Jason sighed in annoyance. "That's funny. At least she was human."
Sookie gave him a dark look but didn't have time to come up with an answer as her grandmother came back in the kitchen with some news.
"You will never believe what happened," she said with excitement, "Oh, hey Jason."
"Hey, Gran."
"You sit down. I'll fix you breakfast."
"What happened?" Sookie asked.
"Well, apparently, a tornado touched down over at Four Tracks Corners," she said with a sudden dark tone, "It turned over that rent trailer in the clearing. You know the one?"
"Uh-huh..."
"And it killed that couple that's been staying in there."
"Wh- Mack and Denise Rattray?" Jason asked.
"They were trapped under the trailer. Mike Spencer said they were crushed to a pulp."
Brooklynne laughed out loud suddenly, and even though they all turned to look at her, they didn't think it was because of what Adele had just said. She just did that, sometimes.
"A tornado," she repeated with a small laugh as she played with the bottom of her shirt.
***
Adele spent the day cleaning the house. Brooklynne helped at the beginning but quickly got distracted. She was laying on the couch, looking at her own hair, when Sookie came back in the house. Adele was vacuuming in the living room.
"You know, he sleeps in the ground all day. I don't think he's gonna even look at the rug."
"I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing this for me. So I can be proud of my home. And how do you know where he sleeps?"
"I don't, actually," she chuckled. She then tilted her head and squinted her eyes. "What's that smell?"
Adele turned off the vacuum. "What smell?"
Brooklynne sat up and watched her sister sniff around the living room.
"It smells like rotten food or something. You can't smell that?"
Adele shook her head no and Brooklynne shrugged.
"Well find it."
Sookie took a few more steps and pushed the armchair a little, then bent over and found a piece of old biscuit on the floor.
"Uh, you can't smell this?"
Adele shook her head no again and gave her granddaughter a weird look.
"Well, I better throw this out."
As she was about to exit the living room, her grandmother stopped her.
"Oh, Sookie?"
"Yeah?"
"Jason and Tara are coming over this evening as well."
Sookie's eyes grew big as bad scenarios went through her mind.
"Gran..."
"Well, they invited themselves. Jason said that he wants to meet the vampire for himself and... Tara said she thought she ought to be here as well."
"I don't know why everyone's getting their panties in a wad about some stupid vampire!" Sookie whined.
"Did you want to be alone with him?"
Sookie shook her head and shrugged, "I don't know... maybe..."
Adele grinned.
"Aren't you gonna tell me to be careful?"
"You're always careful, Sookie, about what counts. And I can depend on that. Isn't that right?"
Sookie paused for a minute. She then nodded before she turned around and left.
***
Bill arrived with the night. All eyes were on him. Jason's were more like daggers. He was looking at the vampire as if he had killed his entire family. Tara's look was more suspicious, while Brooklynne was extremely curious. Sookie hadn't lied. She couldn't hear his thoughts. Not even when she tried. It was completely silent. A peaceful sensation Brooke had never felt before. She was fascinated. So was her grandmother, but for a completely different reason.
"Your people, Mr. Compton, they were from this area, I believe?"
"Yeah, my father's people were Comptons and my mother's people were Loudermilks."
"Oh, there are a lot of Loudermilks left. But I'm afraid old Mr. Jesse Compton died last year."
"Yes, ma'am. That's why I came back to Bon Temps. There were no living Comptons, so I've set up home in the old Compton place. And as I expect the VRA to pass..."
"Yeah, I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you," Jason interrupted him. "A lot of Americans don't think you people deserve special rights."
"They're the same rights you have."
"No, I'm just saying there's a reason things are the way they are."
"Yeah. It's called injustice."
Jason's mouth twitched out of anger.
"Listen, it's called 'this is how we do it'."
"Jason!" Adele stopped him. "This is my house. I will not tolerate rudeness!"
Jason grunted but leaned back in the armchair. Bill was obviously angry, and it was his eyes now that were daggers.
"Did you know the Stackhouses, Mr. Compton?" Adele continued her interrogation.
"Yes, um... I remember Jonas Stackhouse. He and his wife moved here when Bon Temps was just a hole in the road. I was a young man of 16. Isn't this the house he built? I mean, at least in part?"
"Yes, it was," Adele nodded with enthusiasm.
"Did you own slaves?"
"Tara!" Sookie breathed out, surprised by the sudden question.
"I did not. But my father did. A house slave, a middle-aged woman whose name I cannot recall and a yard slave, a young, strong man named Minas."
"Oh, these are just the sort of things my club will be so interested in hearing about."
"About slaves?" Tara asked quite aggressively.
"Well... about anything having to do with that time..."
An awkward and uncomfortable silence settled which was mercifully broken by Bill.
"I look forward to speaking to your club, Mrs. Stackhouse."
Adele laughed like a 16-year-old.
"Now... if it's alright with you, I thought that Sookie and I might take a walk. It's such a lovely night."
"Well, it's alright with me if it's alright with Sookie."
Jason put his beer down and got up.
"I don't think that's a good idea," he said.
"Jason, sit down and shut up," Brooklynne said calmly, calmer than anyone who would say that would, as if she expected him to comply instantly. And he did.
Bill frowned as he watched the young Stackhouse immobile in his seat. It was as if she had just glamoured him without even looking at him, without even having the powers of a vampire.
"Um... shall we?" Bill asked Sookie as he held his hand.
"We shall," she said as she took it.
Once they were out of the house, Jason turned to look at his sister and complained.
"I told you not to do that to me! You made me look like a fool in front of him!"
"Oh Jason," Adele said as she got up, "You don't need any help to look like a fool."
***
Brooklynne was lying in her bed, in the darkness of her room, when Sookie came back home. The entire evening was still fresh in her memory and Brooke saw all of it. She learnt that Bill's blood was inside Sookie, that it was the reason for her acute senses and the weird wet dreams, and that Bill would be able to find Sookie at any time. To feel her when she was in trouble and come to the rescue as fast as possible. Information Sookie had had trouble to take in. But not for long as the evening ended with a kiss. And the night ended with another wet dream.
***
Days passed and Sookie kept seeing Bill. Though it seemed she wasn't sure about her feelings. She had admitted to Adele and Brooklynne she was scared of him and Brooklynne knew why. She knew everything all the time. That's why she was always so tired, so absent. But she was aware.
Sookie had had an unfortunate meeting with three other vampires, a moment during which Bill showed his dark side, his vampire side. He called her 'his', so that other vampires would leave her alone, as if it made her safe or safer.
She thought she was at least safe during the day, but even that proved to be untrue as one morning, while she was doing a favor for Sam, her boss, she found her colleague, Dawn, a waitress and Jason's 'friend', dead in her bed. That same morning, Jason got arrested again.
Adele was worried. She knew people would want to know who was killing those young ladies and she was afraid they'd come after Jason. She asked Sookie to keep her ears open and to listen carefully in case she would hear the killer or find out who had done it.
Brooklynne wanted to help too, but she knew her grandmother wouldn't let her leave the house.
An opportunity arose, however, when Sookie came back home from work sooner than she should have. She had made plans with Bill to go to a vampire bar in Shreveport called 'Fangtasia' and try to find some information that would help Jason. Brooke wasn't going to let that opportunity pass.
"I'm going with you."
"No way!" Sookie said as she fixed her makeup. "I'm not taking you to a vampire bar!"
"Why not? You're going! And I'm bored! I wanna leave the house and I wanna help, you know I can do it!"
"I know you can do it, it's not about that, it's just... it's too dangerous!"
"I can defend myself, you know that!"
"I also know that other people, especially vampires, shouldn't know it."
"Well, I'm going with you, I'm not asking. I'm an adult and I can do whatever I want."
Sookie sighed. She stayed silent for a minute, fixed her outfit, a white dress with red flowers on it, and put on her shoes, red ballerina flats.
"He thinks it's a date," Brooke continued.
"What?"
"He thinks it's a date. If I'm there, there would be no doubt about it."
"How do you know what he thinks?"
"I watch movies," she shrugged. "A lot of them."
Sookie rolled her eyes. It was a good argument though she didn't really mind being alone with Bill. But she didn't want him to know that.
"Fine! You can come with me."
Brooklynne smiled, victorious.
"But you have to stay with me, all the time."
"I will," she nodded. "I won't leave your side, I promise."
"And you have to stay focused. Be careful."
"I will! I promise!"
"Fine then," Sookie sighed. "Come on."
***
"Wh- you're taking Brooke?" Adele asked Sookie in a whisper as if her granddaughter wouldn't hear her.
"She can help. And it'll be good for her to leave the house."
"Well, I agree, but... a vampire bar isn't the safest place..."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Stackhouse," Bill interrupted her. "I promise no harm will come to your granddaughters."
Adele smiled awkwardly. "Ah, well... if you insist..." she said with worry in her voice.
"Good night, Mrs. Stackhouse."
"Oh, go- good night, Mr. Compton. Be careful girls."
"Bye, Gran."
The three of them left the house and got into Bill's car, Sookie in the passenger seat and Brooklynne in the back. She was wearing one of Sookie's dresses, a short yellow sleeveless gown, and a pair of low heels yellow pumps. Her long blonde hair was caressing her nude back. She was excited to finally be going out, to meet more vampires, and to clear her brother's name.
***
When they arrived at Fangtasia, Sookie immediately took her sister's hand, to make sure she wouldn't go anywhere. As they were walking towards the bar, Bill put his arm around Sookie's waist and brought her to him, in a protective way. It was awkward to be holding her sister's hand while being in the arms of a man and she unconsciously let her sister's hand go.
Once they were inside, they were immediately greeted by a female blonde vampire wearing a leather black sleeveless dress and high heel pumps. She was wearing a lot of makeup, including a very red lipstick.
"Bill. Haven't seen you in a while," she said in a completely disinterested tone.
"I'm mainstreaming."
"Good for you," she almost rolled her eyes as she replied with a bored tone as if she didn't care or didn't like it, "Who's the doll?" she asked, sounding almost interested.
"Pam this is Sookie, and her sister, Brooklynne. Sookie, Brooklynne, this is Pam."
"Pleased to meet you," Sookie smiled at her as she held out her hand.
Pam looked at it as if it contained the plague.
"Can I see your ID?"
The request made Sookie laugh, however she understood why she would ask. Brooklynne looked like a teenager.
"I can no longer tell human ages. We must be careful we serve no minors, in any capacity."
She took a look at both IDs before she gave them back to their owners.
"Twenty-five, huh? How sweet it is," she said as she looked at Bill. She was mostly interested by Sookie, probably because she was the one in Bill's arms, Brooklynne thought.
She finally let them pass and Brooklynne took her sister's hand again as they walked past Pam.
The club was crowded, loud, dark and red. There were dancers everywhere, male and female, some vampires, some humans, most of them were half naked, wearing black leather and black lipstick. It was almost like the cliché vampire bar one would imagine. The humans came for the danger, the vampires came for the fun of it.
"This feels a little bit like what a vampire bar would look like if it were a... a ride at Disney World," Sookie said. However, Brooklynne couldn't picture any of this in Disney World. Too much nudity.
"Well, don't get too comfortable. It tends to get more authentic as the night wears on."
"There are more humans here than vampires," Brooklynne noticed as the loud thoughts of the customers echoed in her head.
They took the direction of the bar where a vampire asked them what they wanted to drink. He had medium long black hair, dark eyes, and tattoos on both arms. He was shirtless, only wearing a sleeveless black leather vest. He looked tired, though maybe that was just because of the eyeliner around his eyes.
"How's it going Bill?"
"Very well."
"I'll say it is. This is your meal for tonight?"
"This is my friend Sookie, and her sister, Brooklynne. Sookie, Brooklynne, Longshadow."
"Nice to meet you," Sookie politely greeted, but once again received no answer. "I'll have a gin and tonic, please."
"And I'll have a bottle of O-negative."
"And what about the sister?"
Brooklynne didn't give him an answer. She didn't realize he was talking to her. The voices in her head were too loud and she got distracted. Sookie took her hand, making her sister look at her and focus once again.
"She'll have a coke," Sookie answered for her.
"Longshadow, Sookie here, would like to know if she could ask you a few questions. Would this be acceptable?"
"I just have a couple of pictures I'd love you to take a look at," she said as she took the photos of Maudette and Dawn out of her bag, "Do you recognize either of these women?"
Longshadow took the pictures and put them on the bar.
"Yeah, I've seen them both here before."
"Great! Thank you," Sookie said quickly and enthusiastically, as she was happy he was cooperating and wanted him to continue, "Do you also happen to remember who they hung around with?"
"That's something we don't notice here. You won't either."
"Okay, then. Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time."
"This one," he said as he took Maudette's picture. "She wanted to die."
Sookie frowned. "How do you know?"
"Everyone who comes here does, in their own way. That's who we are: Death."
Sookie didn't reply. What could she say to that? Bill paid for the drinks and they walked away. They settled at a table and Sookie started listening to the people around her. Brooklynne was already "scanning" the area. She tried to block out the music which she found horrible. A man was screaming some words she couldn't understand over loud guitar and drums. She found other people's thoughts more pleasant for once.
Sookie heard a man among the crowd of clients, he was thinking about the blond vampire sitting on the throne on the stage at the end of the room. He walked slowly towards him and kneeled near him. He put his hand on the vampire's leg and started moving it up his thigh. Suddenly, the vampire, who had been silently staring at the bald man until then, got up with vampire speed, and pushed him away. The man, who looked like he was in his forties, fell down and hurt his head which started to bleed. A female vampire with short brown hair and a short black dress helped the human get up and they disappeared in an instant.
"Still think you're in Disneyland?" Bill told Sookie who chose to ignore him.
"Do you hear anything?" Sookie asked her little sister.
"A lot of things," she replied. "Nothing helpful. It's loud."
"How come no one fucked me? I got a dog collar too."
"Morticia, how'd you like me to rip that tape off your tits?"
"It ain't gay if a guy's a vampire, is it?"
"I'm gonna get kicked out of my frat if I don't fuck a vampire tonight."
"You're able to pick up anything?" Bill asked Sookie after a while.
"All anyone's thinking about here is sex, sex, sex."
"One needn't be telepathic to pick up on that."
Suddenly, Bill straightened up. "Uh-oh."
"Don't say 'uh-oh'. Vampires are not supposed to say 'uh-oh'!"
"It's Eric," he said as he looked at the blond vampire on the 'throne'. "He's scanned you twice. He's going to summon us," he told her like it was a bad thing, something he'd had preferred to avoid.
"He can do that?"
"Oh, yeah..."
And as he said it, Eric gestured for them to come. Bill held out his hand but before she took it, she looked over at her sister, who was looking inside her empty glass of coke. Gone, as usual.
"Brooklynne, come on."
The girl looked up and gave her a confused look.
"Come on," Sookie said again as she took her hand.
Sookie squeezed her sister's hand as they approached Eric. Pam was standing behind him, her arm resting on the top of the 'throne'.
"Bill Compton. It has been a while."
"Yes, well, I've been..."
"Mainstreaming," Eric cut him off. He said it with a grin, as if it was something to be ashamed of. "I heard." He looked over at Sookie, who was on Bill's left, holding his hand. "I see that is going well for you." He then, looked at Brooklynne, who was standing a little behind Sookie, squeezing her sister's hand too, and looking at Eric and Pam with a sort of fascination. The silence in their head was relaxing. "Very well, apparently," he chuckled.
"Yes, of course, sorry," Bill said. "Eric, these are my friends..."
"Sookie and Brooklynne Stackhouse."
"How do you know our names?"
"I never forget a pretty face. You're in my vault," Pam said as she pointed a finger at her head.
"Great. That's just great," Sookie blabbered, not sure how to handle that information. "It's nice to meet you," she told Eric.
"Well, aren't you sweet?" he grinned mockingly.
"Not really."
As she said it, Bill squeezed her hand to stop her and Brooklynne laughed. It was a childlike laugh. A laugh that Eric never thought he'd hear in Fangtasia and a laugh that had no place in his club. It made Eric smirk.
"Vår lilla djurpark börjar växa till sig," Eric said.
"Jag vet," Pam replied.
"I think he just called you a pet," Brooke whispered in Sookie's ear.
"How do you know?" her sister gave her a weird look which Brooklynne ignored.
"You speak Swedish?" Eric asked, suddenly very interested.
"Ja. Inte lika bra som dig," she said with an amused smile.
"You speak Swedish?" Sookie was taken aback. "How?"
"The internet," she shrugged.
"Well, your friend is full of surprises, Bill," Eric grinned.
"I know right?" Sookie sulked.
"I understand you've been asking questions about some of my customers."
"Yes, I have."
"If you have anything to ask, you should ask it of me."
"Alrighty," Sookie nodded. She took out the pictures from her bag and gave them to Eric. "You recognize either one of these girls?"
He took a look at them and smirked as he hummed, probably remembering something pleasant.
"This one offered herself to me," he said, pointing at the photo of Maudette. "But I found her too pathetic for my attentions. Now, this one, however," he continued, pointing at Dawn, "I have tasted."
"I remember them both," Pam said.
"On account of the vault?" Sookie asked, not caring she was being sassy with a vampire, or not realizing it. Brooklynne laughed quietly, looking up at her big sister. Bill quickly took Sookie's hand again, to stop her. Eric noticed. Pam didn't budge. "Never had either of them, though. They weren't really my type."
"Are you hearing anything?" Sookie asked silently to her sister who shook her head no.
"Well, thank you very much. That is all your time I need to take," Sookie said as she took the pictures back from Eric.
"I'm not finished with you yet," he said quickly and dryly. "Please," he gave her a fake smile that didn't seem friendly at all, "Sit."
Sookie looked over at Bill and she understood from the look on his face that they didn't really have a choice. She looked at the chairs next to Eric's 'throne', one on his right and one on his left, and realized there wasn't enough chairs for the three of them. Bill gestured Sookie to sit on Eric's right while he let Brooklynne sit on his left.
"Well, we can't let poor Mr. Compton without a chair," Eric said as he raised a hand stopping Brooklynne from sitting.
"I'm fine."
"I insist," Eric continued as he rested his hand on his lap as a silent command to the young woman.
Brooklynne's eyes grew big, though not out of fear but surprise. She looked at her sister who shook her head no.
"Really, Eric, I'm fine on my feet."
"Sit," Eric ordered. He would not be refused.
Bill sighed. He silently and slowly walked over to the chair on Eric's left and sat down. Eric smirked at Brooklynne as he held out his hand.
"Jag insisterar."
Brooke hesitated for a few seconds but then smiled, amused, as she took his hand. She sat on his lap, turning her back to Bill and facing her worried sister.
"Oroa dig inte. Jag kommer inte att bita," he said with a smug smile.
"Jag är inte orolig," she replied with a smile of her own as she put her hand on his shoulder.
Eric chuckled, almost impressed. "I like you." He kept his hands to himself, something Brooklynne appreciated particularly. "So Bill, are you quite attached to your friend?" he asked as he looked Sookie up and down.
"She is mine," Bill immediately said with a threatening tone.
"Yes, I am his."
"Good. I imagine you aren't his, then," he told Brooklynne as he looked back at her.
"That's right," she replied, wondering why he'd even be interested in her, and wishing she could hear what he was thinking, for once.
"Where the fuck are they? My backup was supposed to be here 15 minutes ago. I can't handle a raid on my own. These fucking vampires..."
The undercover police officer's thoughts resonated in Sookie's head and set off loud alarms.
"We have to get out of here!" she said suddenly, making Eric and Pam raise their eyebrows and look at her like she was crazy.
"Sookie!" Bill reprimanded her rudeness.
"Eric, the cops are coming! There's gonna be a raid!"
Brooklynne frowned at the new information. Sookie heard something she didn't? That was unusual. She straightened up and focused on the room.
"Tell me you're not an undercover cop," Eric asked with a threatening tone.
"I'm not but that man in the hat is," Sookie replied as she gestured towards the man.
"Even if you're right, we do nothing illegal here."
"There's a vampire in the ladies' room, she's feeding on a man," Brooklynne said, in a surprisingly calm tone.
"How do you know this?" Pam asked.
Brooke looked up at her, then at Sookie, who shook her head no. Before she had the chance to reply, however, the police barged in.
"Police! Police! Freeze!"
They all got up at the sudden entrance, and Eric instructed them to follow him.
"Hands where I can see them!"
They exited through the back door.
"I enjoyed meeting you, Miss Stackhouse. You will come again," he told Brooklynne before he disappeared in the night with Pam.
Bill, Sookie and Brooke ran towards the direction of the car and left as fast as they could. They were quiet in the vehicle, listening to Bill's foreign music, neither girl could tell what language they were speaking, though Brooklynne imagined it was some kind of Asian language. Brooklynne kept thinking about Eric, how peaceful it had been to be near him, the silence that had overtook her as she was sitting on his lap. She couldn't figure out why he had found her so interesting though she supposed it didn't really matter. He probably didn't want to do anything pleasant with her.
A car appeared suddenly behind them and blinded Bill's rear-view mirror with a bright yellow light.
"Shoot," Sookie breathed out as she realized it was a police car. "Pull over."
Bill obliged. He knew what was coming. A suspicious policeman worried that Bill was taking advantage of two young women. There was only one way he'd get out of this without any issue and he didn't imagine Sookie would be pleased by what she was about to see him do.
The police car flashed its light behind Bill's as the officer walked towards the driver's seat. He knocked on the door and instructed the vampire to open the window.
"Brooke, can you take care of this?" Sookie said suddenly, surprising and confusing Bill.
"With pleasure," she replied with a satisfied smile. She was happy to finally be allowed to use her abilities.
"Hello, officer," Sookie greeted.
"Evening, miss. What are you three doing out this late?"
"Nothing. And that's a good enough answer for you," Brooke merely said. "Now turn around and drive away."
Without another word, the police officer did exactly as she said. He got back into his car and drove away.
"How do you do that?" Bill asked, completely baffled.
Brooke shrugged. "I don't know. I just do it."
"You can glamour people without any effort! Only vampires can do that!"
"What's 'glamour'?"
"Vampires can hypnotize people," Sookie explained, "make them do things..."
"Can we go home?" she stopped her as if she weren't interested anymore, "I'm tired."
Sookie chuckled as if she were used to it.
"Of course," Bill nodded as he started driving again.
***
The next morning, Brooklynne got up late. The adventures of the previous night had tired her, and she wanted to be well rested to attend her grandmother's meeting. "Vampire Bill" talking at the church was all the town could talk about that day. It rose curiosity among the people of Bon Temps and a "Descendants of the Glorious Dead" meeting had never seen so many people. Everybody was there. The sheriff, Bud Dearborne, wearing his uniform for some reason. Tara and Jason. Sam Merlotte, who hated Bill, though not so much because he was a vampire but rather because he had a crush on Sookie himself. Arlene, Sookie's colleague and vampire hater, who had come with René and her two children who had begged her to take them. All the seats of the church were taken. But they were less interested in what he had to say about the Civil War and more about the vampire himself.
Brooklynne was cursed to hear every single one of their thoughts, one more stupid than the other. But she managed to hear what the vampire was saying, despite Sam's angry thoughts provoked by the mere sight of the vampire, and other dirty images that showed up in his mind about her sister.
The meeting went rather well and even made the crowd wet their eyes. It was a miracle that between a Jason high on V, three stupid high school drop outs armed with garlic, and several vampire haters sitting on every bench, nothing wrong had occurred.
Most of the town headed out to Merlotte's after the meeting. Bill and Sookie, however, felt like having some alone time together. Adele agreed to let Brooke go to the bar after Sam promised to watch over her. He let her bartend with Tara who taught her how to make some drinks but didn't let her drink them. She got tired around 2AM however and Sam drove her back. The lights were out which Sam found odd. He was sure Adele would be waiting for her granddaughter.
"Looks like everybody's sleeping."
"No, nobody's home..." she said quietly, more surprised than him. Adele would be at home at this hour. Unless an emergency had forced her to leave. But if that had happened, she's have called to warn Sam about it.
"How do you know?"
Brooklynne didn't answer and got out of the car. Sam followed her inside the house. The floor was slippery, and she almost fell as she stepped inside the kitchen. Sam turned on the lights and they were suddenly faced with horror. Blood everywhere. A pool of red liquid surrounding Adele Stackhouse's dead body. Brooklynne's mind suddenly became blank. All she could hear was a loud buzzing sound, all she could see was her dead grandmother lying in a pool of her own blood. The buzzing sound turned into a loud shriek. A terrified scream that she didn't understand was coming from her.