Chapter 20

Medium Man spoke first, "Why couldn't you just die? How many times do you have to be killed before it finally takes? Well, I aim to find out. I have six bullets, so I figure, I have six more times to kill you if you keep coming back from the dead."

"Who are you and why do you want me dead!?" I asked. Honestly, another person showing up at my house wanting me dead! Seriously, what are the odds? If I had a nickel ….

"I'm Camden. Claude was my lover, my world, my everything and I hold you responsible for his death," he said. And then it dawned on me. Last year, Niall told me that he allowed Claude to escape from his fairy prison so that Niall could weed out other traitors in Faery. Camden must be one of those traitors. He must have helped Claude escape Faery and come through the portal, but how? I tried to focus on his thoughts, but I was getting nothing but static.

"What are you?" I asked.

"Having trouble reading me, huh. Well, I'm a part fairy, like you, but I'm a witch too. I used my magic to enter Faery when the Prince took Claude, and I used it to help Claude escape to back to this world. It's because of you that Claude was tortured. If only he had the cluviel dor, we could have overthrown the Prince and ruled Faery together, but you couldn't be seduced by Claude and he couldn't find where you hid the cluviel dor. As a result, my beautiful Claude was captured, tortured, disfigured, and he would have been killed too if he hadn't escaped. We came here to make you pay for what you did to him, but you just wouldn't go to prison like you should have, and then Claude died trying to bring you to me so that we could torture you, like Claude had been tortured," he said.

"So, since you're here wanting to do me harm, I guess you have the magic amulet too," I said.

"Yes," Camden said as his free hand patted his front pants pocket. "Freyda was nice enough to return it to me after she killed you. The coin is an ingenious bit of magic and it took me a long time and a lot of magic to create it, but it has certainly been useful." He could say that again, at least three people had used that coin to get past my wards, two of them to kill me (one of whom actually did) and one to frame me for murder. "I had wanted to kill you myself, but the Queen really hated you and insisted that she do it; however, it seems that I will get my chance after all," Camden said and he raised the gun slightly with purpose.

"Wait!" I shouted. "Okay, I understand me, but why Hunter? What do you want with him?" I asked. It was a question that had been plaguing me for some time.

"Well, we don't have the element of surprise with the Prince anymore. He knew Claude and I wanted to bring him down and when Claude broke free of his prison, we knew the Prince would be on guard. If we could kill you and then take this talented little boy, who is also the Prince's kin, why what kind of bargaining tool do you think we'd have? If the Prince fought a fairy war and closed the portals all to protect you, a more human than fairy relation that he hardly knew, then if you were dead and gone, what would he do to protect this child? He couldn't very well rescue him from the throng of vampires that protect a monarch. Would he give up his reign? Well, I'm certainly going to find out," Camden said and he took aim with his gun.

Suddenly, there was a loud pop and a flash of brilliant light. The intensity was so extreme that the three of us in my yard shielded our eyes and Camden lost the focus he had on his aim. The light quickly subsided and there stood Niall. He didn't say anything, just quickly turned towards Camden and shot him with a beam of light from his hands, sending Camden into a tree several feet away. Niall walked over to Camden who was either unconscious or stunned, I couldn't tell, and said, "Camden, I should have known." Then two fairy guards popped into my yard, collected Camden and proceeded to carry him away, but not before Niall stopped them and removed the amulet from Camden's pocket. Niall then turned to me and said, "My child," opening his arms to me. I wanted to go to him, but I was mad, no, actually I was livid.

"Hi Great Grandfather, I'm sorry but I'm feeling a little less than lovable towards you right at the moment," I responded.

"Whatever for?" Niall asked, and he looked genuinely shocked and hurt.

"Let's see, ever since you've come into my life, my life has been in jeopardy more times than when I just associated with vampires. Without going into it all, and there is a lot, I will say that most recently, you let Camden break Claude out of Faery and enter my world again. They got together with two people who wanted me dead in the worst way and they killed a woman, framed me for it, and got me arrested. They colluded with the Queen of Oklahoma to get Eric away from me. Oh and since Claude died and all, Camden and Freyda killed me, Bill, Remy and kidnapped Hunter last month," after a short pause, I said, "Yeah, I think that about sums it up."

"My dear Sookie, I suppose I can see your point, but it looks like it all worked out for you now, right? All of those who plotted against you are dead, and you have Eric back. And it appears a child too," Niall said, eyeing Hunter. The look Niall gave Hunter made me feel uneasy. I'd seen that same look the first time I met Niall at that French restaurant in Shreveport.

"Hunter, go in the house please." I said.

"Yes Aunt Sookie," Hunter replied.

Hunter went into the house and Niall watched him until he was out of sight. Niall then looked at me and said, "Aunt Sookie, hmmm," and that short sentence contained a world of meaning.

"Niall, yes, he is my cousin and Eric and I are raising him as our own. We are protected by the Ancient Pythoness now, and I will do anything, and I do mean anything, to keep him safe. He has known more hurt and sorrow than any person should, let alone a little boy, and I intend to give him a happy life."

"Sookie, you mistake my interest. I am simply interested in all of my part human descendants that have the essential spark, as I can tell he does. I do not mean to harm him or involve him in fairy politics in anyway, nor did I ever mean for that to happen with you. I was sincere when I told you that I intended to close the portals to protect humans from my kind," Niall said.

"Well Niall, I have to say, you didn't close them very tightly because there sure seems to be a whole lot of people coming through them!" I said, completely exasperated.

"Sookie, my dear, I promise this will be the last time you see me, or my kind here. I have gathered the most ancient and powerful fairies I could find and together we will seal the doors upon my return to Faery," and with this, he opened his arms to me again, and I begrudgingly went to him. When he embraced me I felt his love and warmth and I knew that, although misguided, his intentions had been well-meaning. Niall rested his chin on my head and said, "For whatever it is worth, I shall miss you, miss getting to know you, and miss getting to know little Hunter. But I know that my presence here has caused you more grief than I could ever have imagined. Fintan was wise to hide you from me. I can see that now. But do know, I care about you very deeply Sookie," he said, and I knew he was saying goodbye.

It was hard to stay mad at him knowing he was really and truly going to leave forever, and so I let go of my anger and hugged him back. After a moment, we pulled apart and Niall looked off at the darkening sky. "Your vampire shall be up soon, so I will be going. Here you go my child," and Niall handed me the amulet. "I hope this will no longer be causing you any further grief." And with that, he bent down, kissed my cheek. After one last long look, he turned and walked into my woods. That was the last time I saw Niall.

I went into the house and saw that Hunter had been watching us. He had used a chair to climb up onto the kitchen sink and his face was pressed into the window. "Let's hop down from there now," I said, lifting him up and setting him on the floor. "What do you want for dinner tonight?" I asked, and our lives returned to normal, or at least normal for us. I made dinner, like we always did, and we waited for Eric to rise and join the rest of the family.

THE END