Disclaimer: Neither Kacy or Meg own any of these characters. We're just rocking their world like it's never been rocked before. Additionally, we have to give props to Ms. Charlaine Harris and the writing staff over at True Blood for providing portions of our dialogue here. It's the price we pay for canon, but the vast majority of the thoughts in between the spoken words are our own. Still, we gotta give credit where credit is due. We're just fans. No need to get legal on our asses.

Oh, and a big thanks to makesmyheadspin's dearest dolly dracodew17 for her wicked awesome beta skills. She really cleaned this up for us. We owe her Skarsporn. Lots of it. And, before we forget, none of this would be possible with the beautiful Meadowslark who allowed us to nurture her plot bunny. Thanks, bb!

Chapter 1: What the Fae?

Somewhere in the Fae Realm...

Claudine raised her hand to knock on Niall's door, but he beckoned her in by name before she got the chance to knock. "Come in, my child."

Claudine opened the door and peeked inside. Niall was seated behind a large desk, looking every bit as regal as he was. His cane leaned against the richly stained wood and his flaxen hair hung past his shoulders. He wore a smile on his face and as Claudine approached him, he rose to hug her.

"How have you fared?" He asked as he held her.

"Very well, Grandfather." Claudine patted his back and he released her.

"That is most excellent to hear. Please, dear, have a seat." Niall gestured behind Claudine.

She turned to see the Ancient Pythoness sitting on the sofa with perfect posture. She jumped slightly, completely surprised to see the ancient vampire sitting there. Something big must be happening if a vampire had been permitted to enter the fae realm.

"Hello." Claudine nodded respectfully, not sure what to call the ancient woman.

"You may call me Pythoness." The ancient woman answered, startling Claudine slightly.

"Child, you are aware the Pythoness is a seer?"

"Yes, Grandfather, I am aware." Claudine looked back and forth between her kin and the figurehead of a race she'd been taught long ago to fear.

"I come here because we must work together to ensure the safety of one of your own. She has a great fate that is to include one of my kind. We must work together to ensure her survival in the days ahead," the Pythoness stated, her voice raspy with age.

"Perhaps we might begin with Claudine giving us a report on all she knows?" Niall proposed, gracefully taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk and motioning for Claudine to sit beside him.

Claudine looked to the Ancient Pythoness and started her tale from the beginning, chronicling the troubles Sookie had been having since coming into contact with vampires, namely Bill Compton. When she came to the most recent events, Claudine confessed to having had the opportunity to meet with Bill personally after he ingested so much of Sookie's blood that it was possible to summon him to the fae realm in his daytime stupor.

"Mr. Compton insists he is not at fault for nearly draining our kin. He blames his bloodlust for her near death, which is completely unacceptable. He told me he wishes to protect her, but there is something about him I do not trust. I have had the opportunity to watch him, as well as Sookie, and I know for a fact he has lied to her on many occasions for his own personal gain. I'm not sure of his reasons for doing such things, and he will not discuss the matter. I worry that given the troubles Mr. Northman is currently having with your vampire, Russell Edgington, our dear Sookie is liable to do something that will get her killed. Her death—should it be at the hands of the Fanged—would lead to a war among our two kinds. For the safety of all concerned, I feel it would be best to let the magicks work here," Claudine concluded with an air of finality and looked to Niall for his input.

"You have done well, child." Niall put his hand on Claudine's knee. "Pythoness, we have no desire to go to war with your kind. We respect our Sookie's role in your vampire's future. Whether he knows it yet or not, he loves her a great deal. It is our suspicion it is only a matter of time before our Sookie comes to feel the same. While it is very rare for a vampire to bond to a human in any capacity, it is even rarer still for one to bond emotionally, and to someone with fairy blood is extraordinarily rare. We believe your vampire is a strong match for our Sookie."

"I have seen a time in which my vampire will be in need of assistance. It is in this time that your Sookie will come to see him in a different light. There are a great many resources available to my vampire. However, he will be stricken in such a way that he will be virtually unaware of these resources. His best chance for survival is your Sookie. Are you quite sure your magicks are strong enough to ensure the survival of them both?" The Ancient Pythoness looked back and forth from Claudine to Niall.

Niall's face held its gentle smile, a reassuring confidence in his eyes. "We have magicks at our disposal we haven't dared tap into for quite some time as there hasn't been a need for them. Be assured we will see this through. It will benefit us both."

"Then I believe we have a deal, Prince Brigant?" The Pythoness slowly got to her feet, putting a great deal of pressure on the old walking stick she held onto with her gnarled hand.

Claudine looked back and forth between her Grandfather and the Ancient One, trying to deduce what sort of trade they were making. Surely there had to be a great deal of something changing hands, and she doubted it was as simple as someone signing a check. Besides, Niall certainly wasn't lacking for money, nor would he endanger the life of his kin for currency.

"Yes, Ancient Lady, we have a deal." Niall nodded and a scroll appeared out of nowhere.

Claudine watched as her grandfather and the Ancient One put their sacred symbols onto the scroll. A glittering light rose from each of the 'signatures' and blended together with a swirl over the scroll. A second copy of the scroll was produced and rolled itself into the Ancient One's hand.

"Be well, fairy." The Pythoness nodded to Niall and then Claudine.

"And you, Ancient Lady." The fairies chorused in return.

Then with a pop, the Ancient Pythoness was expelled to her own realm. Claudine wasn't quite sure what happened, but she was about to find out.

"Come, child, there is work to be done." Niall led Claudine from his office with a warm hand on the small of her back.

SVM!Sookie

One minute, I was slinking against a wall in Josephine's, and the next, I was chained by the neck in a dark room. As if that wasn't weird enough, I was screaming for Eric. But why? Where was I, and how had I gotten there? Was I expecting Eric to rescue me, or was he the reason I was chained up in the first place? Maybe I'm dreaming, or perhaps I'm dead. Ending up dead would be just my luck, now wouldn't it?

Eric has threatened to torture me before, maybe that's what's going on here. When I looked down at my body there were no cuts or bruises anywhere. I was healthy as ever but I was dressed in a Bon Temps Football t-shirt with dark washed denim shorts instead of my pretty boutique dress the color of expensive champagne. My hair was no longer ornately styled but instead was pulled up in a ponytail with a mussed underside.

I checked my face to make sure I wasn't bleeding or swollen, but I seemed to be fine. My lips were a bit sore, though I couldn't place a reason for it. I was being held captive, but was it against my will? It had to be. No way would I have volunteered for someone to slap a metal cuff around my neck and leave me in a damp, dark room. Who was holding me? I took a few deep breaths and tried to make sense of things. Obviously, if someone had me chained by my throat, I was considered a flight risk. They were damn right about that. I figured I could keep on screaming for Eric, but it probably wouldn't do me much good.

I ran through my most recent memories in hopes of an answer springing to mind. I remembered being in Josephine's, Club Dead, whatever you want to call it. I was having drinks with Russell Edgington, Talbot, Tara, Franklin Mott and Alcide. Tara and I did that routine we did for the talent show in high school that probably could have gotten us suspended. It definitely would have gotten us jobs at Hooligan's if they catered to the sort of clientele we would appeal to with that sort of thing. I remembered the feeling of Tara's hands on my hips, bumping and grinding along with me to "Love is a Battlefield." I remembered the rising lust in the bar that only got higher and higher with every sway of our hips or shimmy of our chests.

I remembered the nasty comment Alcide made out of jealousy. Bill! Oh my stars! If I was there-wherever there was-where was Bill? I was so close to finding him. No, no, one thing at a time, I told myself. I wanted to find Bill, but this sudden change of locales without any recollection of how it happened was a much bigger problem, and one I might have had a snowball's chance in hell of solving. Where the hell was I?

I shook myself back into the proper train of thought and picked up where I'd left off in my memories. Tara got Alcide's attention by asking about his business. I started looking around. The crowds parted and there was Eric. I hadn't even known he was there. He was incognito in a suit and a pair of glasses that made him look like the sexiest nerd I'd ever seen. The look he gave me had helped to ease my foul mood just a little bit. Unlike Alcide, Eric had been amused by the little display Tara and I had put on for everyone. He didn't go and have a fit or try to make me feel bad for having a little fun for a change.

But it wasn't just amusement I saw in Eric's eyes. There was heat. Eric clearly wanted an encore or maybe his own private showing. Eric... He was the last thing I remembered seeing clearly before I heard someone thinking about being a martyr. Then there were stakes. I remembered hearing someone mention a stake. Oh, sweet Jesus, what if someone was staked?

Eric. Could he be finally dead? Was I dead? Tears welled up in my eyes. Whether they were for Bill, who was still missing, Eric, who may have met the true death, or the messed up situation I was in, I didn't know. I let them fall silently while I tried to see if there were any clues as to where I was. I wiped my eyes and cheeks before wiping my hands on my shorts. What did it mean that I was screaming Eric's name? That had to mean something.

I made the mistake of moving the wrong way and the metal collar around my neck dug into my skin. The room was very dimly lit and smelled of cleaning supplies. It was the cleanest-and first-dungeon I'd ever been in. No blood on the walls or floors, and no weapons were on display to indicate it was a den for torture. My only clue was a staircase that I assumed led to a doorway into the rest of the establishment where I was being kept.

A basement? Was I in someone's basement? Maybe Russell Edgington found out what my mission was. But why would he dress me in a Bon Temps t-shirt like I was just hanging out at my brother's waiting for a game to start? And that didn't explain why I was screaming for Eric. No one was meant to know I had any connection to Eric outside of Alcide. I excluded the Russell Edgington theory almost immediately. I wasn't in this basement/dungeon because of him.

The more I tried to make sense of my situation, the less sense it made.

I realized a while later that I could move the wheel I was chained to, so I started walking in circles. It was better than sitting on the damp cement floor. I don't know how many laps I took before I started to feel parched. I didn't want to waste my voice on screaming. My throat was dry enough. Besides, I was sure no one was coming to check on me. Maybe I was trapped in some sort of purgatory. I snickered at the idea of what Steve Newlin would think if I were dead. I was a sinner, of course, having had sex with a vampire. Maybe this was God's punishment for what I'd done. I shook those thoughts from my mind. It was hardly the time to berate myself for not being as good a Christian as I should have been.

I leaned against the pole I was chained to, not quite ready to sit down yet. I started humming Katy Perry's latest and tapped my toes to the beat in my head while I tried to figure out if there was a way to escape. I needed a plan. If I knew who had taken me against my will, that would help me out big time.

I ran through several theories in my mind as to why I'd been taken. I considered it had something to do with Bill and that damn database I was supposed to be protecting, but that didn't seem right. I considered the possibility that a Fellowship member had spotted me in Jackson, but I figured the chances of me being transported all the way to Dallas without noticing it were slim to none.

Dear Lord, how had my life come to this? Up until a few months ago I was just a quirky barmaid everyone thought was a little crazy. People were content to leave me be, and for the most part, I was content to do the same. Ever since I got mixed up with Bill, my life has been one bump on the head after another . People were fighting each other to get to me. How did that happen?

My mind drifted back to the night when I'd thought Bill was in bed with me. I'd thought all of my problems had been solved. Bill was back and I didn't have to worry anymore. Yes, we had problems in our relationship that needed to be worked out, but I was willing to make the effort. Of course, that was just before I found out Bill had left me for another woman. Then that sneaky SOB Eric had let himself into my house, again, and upped the ante by snuggling with me in my own bed.

Now, there's no denying Eric is a good looking man. I could try to, but ever since the high-handed jerk tricked me into drinking his blood in Dallas, I don't have the ability to keep a secret from him. Yes, it was true that I'd felt something when we were at that orgy, but I couldn't go there with Eric, even though my lady business started a chorus of "Hallelujah' every time I got near him. I trusted him because I had no reason not to so far. In spite of all his badass talk, he'd never once let me down; he'd always shown up when I needed him to-and more than a few times when I didn't think I did.

Finally, just when my disability might come in handy, it was useless to me. Or was it? I marveled at how it had taken me so long to remember I could use my disability to garner information. Surely there had to be some sort of information I could use, even if it was just counting the number of dark vampire voids I knew were brains. Knowing what I was up against would be a big hash mark in the pro column for ole Sookie.

I sat down Indian style and closed my eyes. I took a few deep breaths to concentrate. If I could reach out far enough with my mind, I might be able to tell where I was, or who was responsible for taking me. I got myself centered and slowly started to lower my shields a little at a time. I encountered one vampire brain, then a second. Finally, I found a human who was difficult to re- oh my God! A woman. I was seeing into the mind of a woman. A woman who'd had a lot of sex with a vampire who looked just like Eric if he made a trip to Cary Grant's barber. And they'd done it right where I was sitting.

"OhmyGodew!" I sprang up, which was a bad idea on account of the medieval-chic accessory around my neck. After nearly snapping my own neck, I moved the wheel as far from that spot as I could.

I couldn't make out the woman's thoughts since they weren't in English, but I knew she was angry and thinking of Eric. Although, from all I could gather from the images in her brain, she'd certainly enjoyed the sex. I could practically feel the way he had pounded into her, her memory was so vivid. The sex had gone on and on and on until she had passed out from exhaustion. Suddenly, her mind changed to images of money and a posh life, but they were tinted with red. Yes, this woman was very angry.

Not that I'd assumed Eric was living like a monk and pining away for me, but I'd had no idea he was- wait. Wait just a minute! The Eric in that woman's mind was Eric, but he wasn't my Eric. Not that I ever thought of Eric as mine.

I reached out a little farther, deciding I'd gotten about all I could from the jilted woman upstairs. I was just pushing outside of the building when the door at the top of the stairs flew open. A pair of long legs covered in perfectly tailored dress pants came down the steps. Long, masculine arms came into view. Even from where I was standing I could see the obvious definition of an amazing chest and stomach. The shoulders weren't hard to look at either. Finally came the head, and I was starting to feel like I had fallen down the rabbit hole.

Eric, not my Eric, but Eric all the same.

What. The. Hell.

"Have you calmed down now?" Eric sounded like Eric.

His hair was different, and my Eric was more of a jeans and t-shirt sort of guy—when he wasn't clad in leather while on display for the throngs of fangbangers flocking to Fangtasia to catch a glimpse of him. He remained at the foot of the steps, my answer clearly the deciding factor of whether or not he was going to turn around and leave me there a while longer.

"You're Eric?" I wasn't playing dumb, exactly, but his reaction told me he thought I was.

"You know who I am. I don't recall dropping you on your head, and the collar isn't tight enough to cut off your oxygen supply." Eric looked bored with me.

"But you don't understand. I was-"

"I don't have time for games, Miss Stackhouse."

I scoffed and said, "Well you better make time to explain this to me, buster. Where am I? Why am I locked up? Who locked me up? Why aren't you getting this thing off my neck?" I rattled the chain.

Not Eric looked amused, and even lifted the corner of his mouth for just a second before remembering himself. "You're in Fangtasia's basement. You're locked up because you're going to help me lure Russell Edgington here so I can kill him. I locked you up and I'm not releasing you because you can't be trusted to stay out of harm's way. I believe I warned you about behaving like werewolf bait once already."

"Werewolf bait?" I glared at him with wide eyes. "If I remember right, those werewolves came looking for me, not the other way around! And you're the one who sent me to Jackson with Alcide to find Bill so you wouldn't end up dead for letting Bill get kidnapped in your area. So, how about you tell me why I'm going to help you kill Russell Edgington when he's never been anything but polite and courteous to me."

At vampire speed, Eric was standing right in front of me so I was eye level with his pecs. Eric's eyes were steely as he stared down on me. "Are you a witch?" He demanded, is eyes boring into mine. "Your eyes are blue. They were brown before."

"What? No! I'm a telepath and a waitress. You know that. And I have never in my life had brown eyes. You might want to get your vision checked."

"I assure you my sight is quite excellent, as is my memory. Your eyes were brown until now, which leads me to believe you are much more than just the telepathic waitress you claim to be." Eric dipped down and inhaled my scent but pulled back sharply. "You smell different." Then he was right back at sniffing me. He groaned and pulled me closer to him. "So much sweeter." His voice staggered as he rubbed against me.

"Eric, stop!" I pushed at him but he only loosened his hold when I told him he was hurting me. "Listen, if you take this thing off my neck, I promise not to run. There's something really weird going on and I need your help to figure it out. I don't belong here."

Eric chuckled and pressed his pelvis against me. He was clearly aroused by my scent and had absolutely no problem sharing that information with me, which was something my Eric wouldn't have any trouble doing either. I was able to figure out the woman's head I'd been in wasn't exaggerating the size of Eric's endowments. Jesus Christ, shepherd of Judea. He pulled back and tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

"That's not going to happen, Sookie. I'm afraid you left me no choice." There was that heat in his eyes I'd seen at Josephine's. "Although, I will say I'm not at all opposed to picking up where we left off in my office before we were so rudely interrupted earlier."

I backed away from him as much as I could. "What are you talking about?"

Eric reached up and gently pulled the elastic from my hair, leaving my hair to fall down around my shoulders. "You. Me. My last first kiss."

Well, well, wasn't that cryptic? "I never kissed you in your office." I realized a moment too late the error of my choice of words.

"Oh, but you did." He argued, his body getting closer to mine.

"No, I didn't. The last time I was in your office was after I was attacked by Callisto."

Eric froze, his eyes searching mine for a moment before standing up straight with his fangs bared. "Callisto?"

"Yes, the maenad. I was poisoned. You, Bill, Pam and Chow sucked the poison from my back."

Eric smirked and said, "Not for lack of trying, but Bill would never allow me to feed on you."

"Well Bill doesn't call the shots." I snapped right back.

I was worried about Bill, but I was plenty pissed off at him, too. He'd left me one hell of a mess, and it was all lies. He'd left me for another woman, a former lover. He was off somewhere having an affair, and I was left to go find him in order to save Eric's skin. I certainly wasn't Bill Compton's biggest fan at the moment.

"But you are his, aren't you?" Eric's face was blank.

"Geez Louise, what is it with you vampires? No, I'm not Bill's. I am mine. I don't belong to anyone. I'm not some damned trophy for y'all to compete over."

"Fascinating." Eric said to himself. He lightly brushed his fingers over my forearm like he thought he was talking to an apparition.

"What is your deal, Eric?" He was being stranger than usual.

The Eric I knew was much more of a straight shooter. He could be ominous, but he was also pretty quick with the explanations when I needed them. This Eric didn't quite seem to have a plan that went beyond locking me up in his basement and I didn't even know why he was keeping me. I was determined to get an answer to that question.

"You honestly have no recollection of how you got here?" Eric rubbed his chin.

"No!" I groaned in frustration. I relayed my story to him about where I'd been before I found myself screaming for him just a few feet away. "I have no idea how I got here, Eric, I swear."

"Talbot is dead." Eric revealed to me and I gasped. "Has been for days."

Eric looked as confused as I felt. How had Talbot died? How long had I been locked in the basement at Fangtasia?

"Well, I just had a champagne cocktail with him and he was very much alive."

"I staked him myself." Eric glared at me.

"You staked a human?" Staking Long Shadow was one thing, but a human? What an awful way to die.

"Talbot hasn't been human for centuries." Eric revealed, which was a big shock to me.

"None of this makes any sense." I shook my head numbly.

All of a sudden the cuff around my neck came off. I was about to thank Eric for releasing me when he tossed me over his shoulder.

"Where are you taking me?" I tried to maintain a level tone to my voice, but my anger seeped in.

"I've always wanted to know what you taste like, and it seems we have company waiting for us upstairs." Eric's tone was cool as a cucumber.

"Company? And what do you mean about tasting me?"

My questions went unanswered. When Eric set me down on the floor of the bar, I turned around to find Bill bound to a chair with silver, glaring angrily at Eric behind me. Bill looked about as healthy as ever. That smug bastard had cheated on me and he dared give Eric that "Sookie is mine!" look.

Man, did he have another thing coming.

TB!Sookie

I couldn't stop pacing after Eric left the office to go speak with Pam. I kissed Eric Northman. I mean, he kissed me first and I tried to push him away, but something clicked inside and I kissed him back. And I'll be damned if it wasn't WAY better than any of the dreams I'd had of him. It had to be my fairy blood he was attracted to, right? He couldn't want ME, not really. But when I looked in his eyes as he told me that he didn't want to die without ever having kissed me-all while telling me goodbye-I melted. I felt like the chick in Jerry Maguire and almost said, "You had me at hello."

I tried to figure out how, or what, I felt about Bill. If I was honest with myself, I would admit that something seemed off with him, even before he was kidnapped by Russell. He was always so secretive, like with him making Jessica. I never would've known about her if Eric and Pam hadn't gotten sick of her and brought her back to Bill. And then, there was the creepy stalker file he had on me. Why on earth would he have those old newspaper clippings, birth records, and my family tree mapped out? He'd said it was to try to figure out what I was because of Eric's "unnatural interest" in me, but something told me he was lying. And Bill had attacked me, almost drained me. I mean, I know he was injured, but I would've died if it weren't for Tara and Alcide coming to my rescue.

I can't believe I had sex with him again. I mean, the sex was great and all, but what in the hell was wrong with me? He had JUST practically killed me a few days earlier and I hop right back on top of him just because he helped save me from a couple of werewolves? Stupid!

Eric told me not to trust Bill, but could I trust Eric? He tricked me into taking his blood in Dallas, but again, if I was honest myself, I had to admit that Eric had saved my life more than once when he really didn't have to. I treated him like shit, but he continued to have my back time and again. Even when he was acting like an asshole at Russell's house, I knew deep down that he wouldn't let anyone there hurt me. I could still feel my lips tingling from that kiss and a part of me was relieved that Pam interrupted us while another part of me was pissed that Pam interrupted us!

Before I could contemplate that any further, Eric opened the door and came back in. "Where the hell have you been?" I asked.

"I needed to think."

The nerve of him! "I am not some prisoner you can just lock up anytime you feel like taking off!"

Eric looked at me, and I saw the resolve behind his eyes a split second before he said, "Actually, you are." He scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder as I fought and kicked, trying to grab ahold of something yelling, "Let me go! I knew I shouldn't trust you!"

He just kept walking down into the basement like I weighed nothing and calmly said, "You're right."

I got out one more "LET ME GO!" before he dropped me to the basement floor and secured some medieval metal collar around my neck attached to a chain in the middle of the room and left me there.

"ERRIICC!" I screamed over and over pulling at the metal collar around my neck trying to get free.

What the fuck was WRONG with him? I couldn't believe he was pulling this high-handed bullshit. Actually, I COULD believe it, but still. The last time I was down in this basement, he was fucking that new dancer Yvetta, but me? He brings ME down here and chains me up like a junkyard dog. Stupid vampire.

I continued to scream and pull at the collar and chains, wishing like hell my fairy powers would kick in. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on how my body felt when the freaky blue light would come out of my fingertips. I slowed down my breathing and retreated inside of my own mind. The sounds of the bar faded away until the only sound I could hear was my own heartbeat when I suddenly felt my body sway in motion and heard a 'POP!'

The sounds came rushing in, and I opened my eyes to see that I was no longer clutching the metal collar. Instead I was wrestling some strange man holding a wooden stake. In my confusion, I almost let go of him in shock, but my instincts held on for me. I took a second to glance around to see I was in a bar, but it wasn't Fangtasia. I looked down and saw I wasn't wearing my Bon Temps Football t-shirt and shorts anymore either. It was replaced with a champagne colored dress and black heels. It was while my dumbass was looking at the pretty dress I was wearing that I saw, and felt, the wooden stake go into my side.

I looked up to see the horror in the face of the dark-haired man I'd been wrestling with when a female vamp I'd never seen before hit him twice with her gloved fist, breaking his neck and shattering his skull. My legs were tangled with his so when he went down, I went with him, idly thinking the female vamp was dressed like Mamie Eisenhower.

I landed flat on my back and watched the ceiling fan spinning around while a hawk flew overhead. A wolf came over and licked my face while some brunette started yelling and screaming to call 911. I just continued to lie there, waiting to wake up from this strange ass dream, and my right hand went to where the stake was lodged in my side. I kept thinking that it shouldn't hurt so much in a dream and I felt terribly cold.

The strange brunette kept screaming, and I really wanted to tell her to just shut the fuck up already when she looked down at me and said, "Don't worry, Sookie. We're gonna get you some help."

I looked at her harder to see if I could remember if we'd ever met, but I was pretty certain I'd never seen her before. I could read from her thoughts that she was genuinely scared for me and that put me at ease somewhat, but I had to ask, "Do I know you?"

Her brown eyes got even bigger and she said, "You're kidding right? Oh my God, did you hit your head when you fell?"

I thought about it for a minute before I said, "No, my head's alright. Who are you?"

Tears started streaming down her face when she answered, "Sookie, it's me, Tara."

"Shut the fuck up!" The words tumbled out of my mouth before I even knew I'd thought them. I saw movement on my other side and looked over to see Eric crouched down next to me. When I saw him I immediately felt better and smiled, but he just continued to look concerned while he hovered next to me.

He bent down close to my ear and asked, "Sookie, are you okay?" I continued to grin through the pain and answered, "I'm fine. This is just a weird ass dream."

His forehead creased while he stared down at the stake in my side through the glasses on his face before saying, "Sookie, you're not dreaming. What makes you think that you are?"

I was starting to feel lightheaded from the blood loss and giggled, ending in a hiss because it made my side throb even more, but I felt compelled to answer 'Dream' Eric anyway. "This is obviously a dream," I waved my hands in the air to indicate 'all of it', "because one," I held up one finger, "I'm here and not locked up in the basement at Fangtasia where you left me." I reached over and smacked his leg as hard as I could before continuing, "And 'B'," I held up two fingers, "you're wearing glasses and have long hair. Your hair hasn't been long since Pam had to cut it before we went to Dallas." I nodded at him full of righteousness and ended with, "And lastly, her!" I pointed at 'Dream' Not-Tara saying, "That's not Tara, so when you add all of those things together it equals D-R-E-A-M dream!"

I settled back on the floor content that we'd all be on the same page, now that I spelled it out for them, but I guess that wasn't good enough for 'Dream' Not-Tara.

"Sookie! What are you talking about? We've been best friends since we were little." She looked up at 'Dream' Eric for confirmation, and he looked back down at me like I was crazy.

"Are you saying that this woman," he pointed at Not-Tara, "is not your friend Tara?" I gave him my best Duh! face and answered, "Obviously." I mean seriously, Duh!

He just wouldn't give up. "What makes you think that she's not Tara?" He eyed her like she was about to transform into an alien autobot, like Optimus Prime. I really liked that yellow Camaro, Bumblebee. Maybe if I could ever afford to, I'd buy a car like that.

"Sookie?" The sound of Eric's voice pulled me out of my ultimate car reverie, and I looked up to see him looking down at me. Oh yeah. I looked over at Not-Tara and glared at her for good measure before saying, "She's not Tara! She looks NOTHING like Tara!" I looked back at Eric with big eyes and practically shouted, "She's WHITE for God's sake!"

Not-Tara continued to cry while looking at me and begged, "Please Sookie, stop. You're scaring me! I've known you practically my whole life. I knew Gran, I know Jason, we're best friends!" she sobbed.

Not-Tara was really starting to get on my nerves, so I spat out, "Then explain why you're white!" She looked flummoxed so I looked over at 'Dream' Eric and said, "Really, I know you're 'Dream' Eric and all, but you've met Lafayette. You had him chained in your basement for two weeks." I smacked him again when I remembered that and continued, "So you KNOW he's black. How are they cousins and she's white?" I nodded again in a 'take that!' fashion and waited for his response.

"Sookie, I never met your friend Lafayette, and I certainly don't remember you saying he was Tara's cousin. I would've thought you would have brought that up when we went to the orgy."

I rolled my eyes thinking, of course, 'Dream' Eric is just as much of a horn dog as 'Real' Eric. "See? That's how I know this is a dream. Pfft…orgy. As if," I scoffed.

The stake was still stuck in my side, and I was losing a lot of blood for a dream. I looked up to see Not-Tara being dragged away by some old man vamp and thought Good Riddance! My temporary relief at her departure was instantly filled with fear the moment Russell Edgington came to stand in the space Not-Tara had just left.

I looked over at 'Dream' Eric to see that he wasn't scared in the least when Russell leaned down and asked him, "Who are you?" Without missing a beat Eric replied, "I'm a friend of Alcide's. He invited me here tonight to meet his new girlfriend. My name is Leif."

I tried to hold in my snicker at the thought of 'Dream' Eric being the Viking Leif Erickson, but when I saw 'Dream' Russell's main squeeze Talbot was a human and no longer a vamp, I burst into another fit of giggles and hisses.

I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, 'Dream' Eric was carrying me up a grand staircase. I looked down to see if I was wearing a dress made from curtains and sighed disappointedly when I saw I was still in the bloody dress with the stake still stuck in me. I looked up at 'Dream' Eric, and realizing I wasn't in as much pain anymore, I said, "I must be getting ready to wake up. My side doesn't hurt as bad."

He looked down at me and said, "The human doctor gave you a big dose of drugs. Now I'm carrying you to a bedroom so you can be healed." I laughed and playfully smacked Eric's arm saying, "Even 'Dream' you thinks sex is the cure for everything."

Eric smiled, but I could see the concern in his eyes before he walked me into a room and placed me on top of a motherfuckin' canopied four-poster! 'Dream' Eric really went all out. I started getting concerned when a bunch of other people began filing into the room, mostly vamps with a few token humans, thinking 'Dream' Eric had another thing coming if he thought we'd have 'dream' sex with an audience. From the way they were all dressed, I was reminded of The Weather Girl's song, 'It's Raining Men'. Since it was a dream I figured it was okay to hum a few bars, so that's what I did as I continued to wait and see where this dream was headed.

I noticed an albino looking vamp that reminded me of Draco Malfoy come up and stand on the side of the bed where the stake was stuck in my body, and Russell came up behind him saying, "Miss Stackhouse, this is Ray Don." I just glared at 'Dream' Russell, still pissed that he sent those weres into my house to kill me.

Russell looked like he had NO idea why I would be glaring at him and looked over at Eric who said, "Sookie, Ray Don is going to heal you." My mind immediately flashed to those televangelists that put their hands on people who then automatically fall to the floor praising Jesus. Good thing I was already lying down, I thought, because I'd already spent enough time on the floor for one night, dream or no dream.

Eric continued, "You know, when we start to feed and our fangs come out, they release a little anticoagulant?"

"Yep." Humidity is risin', risin'…Barometer's gettin' low, how low girl?

"And when we are ready to finish feeding, the fangs release a little coagulant and a trace of the, the—"

"Jizz?" Because that's what they ALL do when their done feeding, right?

Eric fought to keep the smile off his face before saying, "Uh no, a trace of the chemical that helps us heal so fast. Ray Don," he gestured towards the albino Malfoy vamp, "has an extra supply of all these chemicals in his body. This is his talent."

Malfoy vamp beamed with pride and Eric continued, "So he will start the process on a volunteer, and when he has fed, he will begin cleaning your wound and healing it."

According to all sources – what sources now? The streets the place to go, 'cause tonight for the first time – first time, Just about half past ten… "Huh? Oh, right. Okie dokie, let's get this show on the road."

I watched a thin blond teenage boy walk over to Malfoy who leaned down and gave him a big old kiss. Malfoy was wearing tight vinyl pants, and when I saw how aroused he got, I almost asked him if he had a wand in his pocket or was he just happy to see him.

When they broke from their kiss, the teenager tilted his head to the side and Malfoy bit his neck with both of them moaning and panting. Malfoy pulled back and turned to face me with his bloody mouth, and my euphoria abruptly turned to fear. Eric immediately sat on the bed and pinned my shoulders.

"Look at me," he demanded. "Look at me, Sookie." I felt the bed indent from Malfoy's weight, and the hysteria built in my chest as I felt him wiggling the stake in my side. My eyes strayed from Eric's and he said, "Don't, Sookie! Look at me!"

I couldn't help myself. I looked down and saw Malfoy grab the stake and, "Motherfucker!" I screamed over and over until I didn't have the energy to continue. Eric was holding my hands and my nails were digging into him. I was shocked that a dream could be so painful and thought I'd be better off when I woke up in Eric's dungeon.

"Let go," I heard Eric say. I loosened my grip on his hands and he said, "No, not of me. You can hold on to me as long as you want." His smile made me feel better. "Let go of the pain, Sookie. Let go. You need to drift away."

I couldn't agree more, I thought, and closed my eyes, hoping to wake up from this nightmare.

The next thing I knew, I was awake but only in my dream. I was lying on the big bed wearing nothing more than my bra and panties, and I couldn't miss the fact that Eric was lying in bed with me. He was lying on his side facing me with an arm draped over me and a leg thrown over mine. A leg that wasn't encased in any sort of pants.

His blond hair was mixed in with my own and the strands were almost the same color. I reached over and ran my fingers through it, causing him to come out of his downtime, and he smiled softly at me. I always did love that smile from 'Dream' Eric, so I returned it with one of my own. "I miss your hair being long," I whisper confessed.

His eyebrows furrowed before saying, "You still think you're dreaming?" I only smiled wider and said, "Of course I'm still dreaming, we're in bed together aren't we?"

That made Eric's smile come back as he asked, "Do you dream about us in bed often?"

Since this was still a dream I answered truthfully. "Yes, I do. I like them because you're always so sweet."

Eric made a mock hurt face and asked, "Am I not always sweet?" He leaned forward and buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling deeply before adding, "Because you, my sweet Sookie, are always delectable."

I giggled from both the sentiment and the fact that what he was doing was tickling me before he pulled back slightly and asked, "So, what do we normally do in these dreams of yours?"

I reached across and ran my hand up the leg he'd thrown over my body underneath the leg of his boxers, gripping his bare ass underneath and causing Eric's body to tense before saying, "Stuff just like this."

His eyebrows rose up into his hairline, and he shifted his body so he was hovering directly over mine. He lowered his mouth until his lips were a hair's breadth away from mine and asked, "And what about this?" He pressed his lips against mine in the next instant, sweeping his tongue into my mouth and I moaned at the taste of him. It was so much more vivid in this dream than any other I'd had of him before. Maybe it was because I'd just kissed him for real right before I fell asleep. That had to be it because he tasted exactly the same as he did when we kissed in his office.

My hands automatically tangled themselves in his hair, my legs wrapping around his body while I rubbed myself against him. I felt his fangs click down along with the corresponding throb in my panties down below. His mouth left mine to make its way across my neck as his hands roamed all over my body. One slipped into the waistband of my panties with his finger sliding right inside of me, a groan slipped past my lips in approval. His finger and my hips found a mutually fantastic rhythm and I pulled his face back to mine, wanting to taste him again. I was on the precipice of falling over Mount Saint Eric when the window flew open, and Elvis climbed in.

So there you have the very first chapter of our first joint venture. We posted our two chapters together this time around but if ya'll feel like it's too confusing to have them together in one post, let us know in reviews and we'll post them separately. Makesmyheadspin will be writing the SVM!Sookie chapters and kjwrit will be writing the TB!Sookie chapters. You'll essentially be getting two stories in one. Pretty nifty, huh? Feel free to show us your gratitude in the form of ASkars pics, as well as reviews. We're looking to post once a week, but have yet to settle on a day. Put us on alert if you haven't already, or follow us on twitter. Our twitter names are the same as our pen names here.

Thanks for reading *foozles*