Pre Edit Count – 2,316 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: Holding On to Heaven by Nickelback

Previously:

Adele exits the house, staring at her Sookie. The noticeable changes are a huge shock to her. Sookie walks with her head up, her eyes are a different color, and both she and Eric seem to subtly glow. She has never seen a couple more suited for each other than them.

It makes her stop and realize, she needed to trust her granddaughter, because she has no explanations on what is going on.

Sookie is staring at her Gran as she comes to her own conclusion. When they stop in front of her, she hears that her Gran is resisting an urge to curtsey. “Sookie. My child, what has happened?”

With a slight smile to her face, Sookie tells her. “A lifetime was accomplished, truths found and the course of history changed. What has happened here in Bon Temps?”

Now:

Refusing to step inside the house if her Mates are not allowed inside, Sookie takes a seat on the bench and both her Mates seat themselves beside her, allowing their mysterious connection to work for them.

Adele is watching the three of them, and frankly, she is confused. Before, she saw Eric and Sookie, how right they seem together, how much they glow together. Now, Godric right beside them does nothing to diminish their glow, but Godric and Sookie seem to be as right for each other as Eric and she does.

Godric glows more silvery, and when the three are together you can see a blue hue to their colors. There is no defining line to Sookie, she looks like she would be lost without either one. There is no doubt that Eric is Sookie’s, nor that Sookie is Eric’s, but there is something there between Godric and Sookie.

Unknown to her, the three are reading her mind at the same time. They discuss it quickly, faster than one would think they could communicate, but the answer is the same, it really doesn’t matter.

Godric is the one who decides to break the silence. “Adele, when I last left here, I gave you a gift of not being glamoured. Unknown to us, you had already been glamoured. If you would allow, I would like to give you those memories back, so that you know what is ahead for all of us. Then, we need to call Jason. Unlike you, we need to block some memories, some memories that will drive him into doing things he never would normally do. But he is a victim, and we wish to give him his happy life back.”

Eric shakes his head in his mind, thinking back to when he confronted Jason at Godric’s house. If he had taken the time, he might have found out so much. Instead, he thought he was going easy on Sookie’s brother after he had saved them under Godric’s wishes, and because he was the brother of the woman he was attracted to.

Never would any of them have suspected everything that has been going on, and there was no way they were going to tell anyone not of the bloodline. No, the way things are going, they needed to play their cards close to their chests. But, Godric is right, they needed to deal with Bon Temps and get this done.

Plus Eric has a vested interest in getting rid of the Maenad before she attacks Sookie. He should have known there was more to the fact that, of all the people in Area Five, she was attacked that night.

Sookie glances at him as she hears him, but then she turns back to her Gran. Her eyes, examine the woman in front of her as Godric leans forward slightly and undoes the glamour Bill had left on her.

Adele is blasted by the memories of Compton showing up. She recalls his relentlessness to find out about Sookie — the questions he asked, the way Jason trailed after him with the look of pure misery on his face as they both answered Compton’s questions. The woman even remembers the day Compton had tasted her to see if she was the source of the Stackhouse’s unique taste, and the way he had spit out her blood, disgusted.

Memories of the sounds that woke her many a time, and how she witnessed Jason being violated under Sookie’s window, shock her. Compton seemed to smile as he watched her watching him, as if he wanted her to catch him. It was obvious that he glorified in the knowledge that she had to witness this and knowing that Sookie would never find out.

She remembers him telling her in great detail on how he planned to make Sookie feel alone and drive her to him, how he would set up Jason to take the fall for the deaths of the woman in town, and even for her own murder. Too many things she now remembers, and her eyes fill with tears now that she knows how the two men in front of her saved not only her life, but also Sookie’s and Jason’s.

She finally tells them, “I am so sorry. I didn’t know. I really should have listened to Sookie. I have no idea why I was so bound to have her uphold the family honor.” She shakes her head, trying to erase the memories in her head, but truly…well not happy to have them, but happy to know what had been hidden from her.

Sookie finally sighs as she reads the suggestions Bill had put on her. “Gran, Bill made sure you would not support anyone that was not him or someone he approved of. There was no way you would approve of Eric. If it wasn’t for me telling you of the contract, then you would have found another reason to dislike him. I am sorry I never looked for another reason, but it fit you so well.”

She looks away to the darkness, shocked she can see so much better now than in the past. The sorrow of what all happened to her family because of someone opening their mouth to the wrong person is almost stifling.

Eric takes her hand in his then tells Adele as he comforts his Mate, “Sookie will need time to get over this. But at the moment, time is something that is not in abundance. There is much that is already happening, no matter what we try to do to prevent it. So, we need to know what your decision is, and then make plans around it. You are suspected to be a weak spot in Sookie’s defenses and we are to make sure that this will not happen. Jason is another, but our actions regarding him will be setting guards on him.” He squeezes Sookie’s hand, and tells her how much he adores her, how much he will support her, and hears Godric doing the same thing.

Godric sighs as he goes through Adele’s mind through Sookie. He is directing her to look for things that she normally wouldn’t look for, and he is finding that Adele is basically already compromised. There are still blocks that he cannot remove, and has no idea how to do it. He pushes the information to Eric to make sure he knows, then he leans back in the swing, his eyes staring at nothing, as his mind twists and turns to figure out what to do.

Eric glances at his Maker then back to Adele. He finally tells her bluntly, “I need to know your decision.”

Sookie glances at him, then back to her Gran. She had read for Godric all he needed, and she knows she needs to back out of this. There is a huge potential for more pain, but she just can’t let go of her family. Not yet.

Adele stares at the three of them, then tells them, “I will do whatever is needed to support my granddaughter. I also support removing Jason’s memories of what happened to him, and while I wish I could make the same request of myself, I just can’t. Not knowing what I do now. There is more danger in this world, and if I am not aware of it, I can make everyone’s lives so much worse.” She sighs, her age getting to her.

Eric and Godric glance at each other, then at their Mate between them. She looks up at Eric, then over to Godric. “I just can’t. I have to let them go soon enough, but right now? So much…”

Adele leans forward and takes her granddaughter’s hands in hers. “If these gentlemen have an idea, you need to listen to it. I was foolish, and while it might have been because of the glamour, like you said, it was something that you would not question. This is not what our relationship is, Sookie.”

Sookie then looks at her with fire in her eyes. “No, our relationship is one in which you did not tell me all the truths that I needed to defend myself. That timeline was one of hardship. Continuous hardship, and the only time Eric ever got a lengthy rest from it was when I was taken away to Faery. Even then, for me it was 10 to 15 minutes, while he got a year of frantically searching for me.”

She got up, telling Godric and Eric, “I need to walk, I will make sure that no one attacks me.”

They didn’t like it, not with Compton on the loose, and so much not going their way, but they both felt how badly she needed the time.

Sookie met their eyes, then tells them, “Fine. Gran, issue them an invitation to the house, and I will go to my room to pack. Will that be safe enough?” There is a huff in her mind, but they both forgive her. Eric stands up, and after the invitation is issued, he gives Godric a glance and escorts his Mate and wife to her room.

Godric watches them, and then listens to them as they enter the house. Then he turns his eyes to her Gran. “She has lived several lifetimes in one previous one, and then finding that all we are doing is not working to eliminate all the pain is not helping. But for now, we need to get you and Jason safe.”

Adele turns around and watches him. She finally asks, “Do you love my Granddaughter?”

He doesn’t see a reason to lie and tells her with a slight movement of his head, “Yes.”

She nods, then, after thinking, asks, “As much as Eric?”

He has a small smile on his face. “I am getting there. But Eric has loved her for those lifetimes, and worked very hard for her love. I do not think anyone will love another as Eric loves her.”

She lifts an eyebrow. “Don’t underestimate yourself. Her heart is big enough to love many. But it is up to you to prove to her you are worthy of it. Those lifetimes have hardened her, but I am thinking it might be a good thing for her to be hardened if the past caused her that much pain.”

She then sighs. “What are you going to need me to do?”

He looks around idly and tells her, “I will call some witches I know, and have them come out to put up some wards and such. You may need to live in another house, but once you are back here, there will be guards, and the house will be much more protected. It may need some physical work on the house, but this is the only way I or Eric can think to protect you as much as we can. To be frank, you are already compromised. There are still walls in your mind that I cannot take down, and I cannot have you risk your granddaughter or Eric.” His words are harsh, but he sees no reason to pull punches.

He gets up to lean against the banister, looking out on the world. “There is much to our world that I do not know, but we are getting a short and brutal education on it. There are things that Eric knows that I had no idea existed. Your granddaughter is integral to everything we find, and there is little Eric or I would not do to protect her.”

Adele nods to herself and stands up. “Do you need me to call Jason, or you will visit him?”

He is still staring out in the night, then looks at her over his shoulder. “I will visit him as well as handle some other items that need to be dealt with. Eric and Sookie will be heading home. They need some time to assimilate some huge changes they have been exposed to. I wish to give them this time by taking care of you and Jason, as well as some others in this town.”

He looks off into the night and comments idly, “This sleepy town is about to be bombarded by the supernatural world. I have some ideas to protect it. It is the least I can do for the town that Sookie lived in and somewhat protected her from the outside world.”

Adele comes closer and she tells him, “I thank you. For everything. For giving me back my granddaughter. She may have changed, but underneath it all is the little girl that used to play in my garden as I worked, twirling around in a white dress dreaming of her prince to come.” Then her voice turned to the past as she comments, “Funny enough, she could never pick if he was tall, blonde and blue eyed, or the dark soulful one. Seems fitting now doesn’t it?” She turns to him and gives him a hard look.

And with that, she heads into her house to pack up what she will need to be safe for her granddaughter.

Godric is staring out into the night, then as he runs his mind through her words, a smile appears on his lips.

Final Count: 2,368 words

Fairfarren ~