DISCLAIMER

(not really)

Hi everyone!

So - back at last after a 6 month absence :)

I know I wrote that this chapter would be the last one in the Dallas arc. But it became longer than I had initially planned, because there is a character I thought I really should introduce here.

Next chapter will be Godric's POV during the discussion with Nan etc… and I PROMISE the last one before I switch to my own storyline!

Grace remained stunned for a minute as she laid flat on the ground, her ears whistling from the deafening explosion, her chest aching, her head pounding. Breathing was hard and when she opened her eyes, there was heavy dust drifting across the air, obscuring her vision and making her eyes water. She had to snap them shut again as she coughed.

She pressed a hand against her closed eyelids, and frowned as recollections of what had just happened flashed behind them. That boy whom she'd seen in the sanctuary, almost rooted to the floor as the vampires had swept over he and his companions. His large coat spread tight over his midsection - much too tight for someone his built. His fist, initinally half-covered by his too-long sleeves,visibly holding something as he raised it into the air. And finally, her guts telling her to grab whoever was closest and get to the ground as her sub-consciousness connected the dots.

Grace frowned. She'd been talking to the sheriff…

She dropped her hand and opened her eyes again, this time firmly determined to see what was happening. She looked to her left, and he wasn't there. But at least there was no blood, which would have been the case if the explosion had killed him. And if it had only injured him – well, given his age, he was probably well into the process of recovering by now.

She let out a small sigh in relief. And then felt a slight pressure on her shoulder, as a hand squeezed it gently. She tried to got to her knees to face whoever it was, but each move was painful, and she couldn't hold back a groan. When she finally managed to turn around, she was not surprised to meet the sheriff's now familiar unreadable gaze. His eyes swiftly travelled up and down her figure, obviously checking for potential injuries. She was about to tell him that she was all right, that he could let her go, but she breathed in, she inhaled some of the particles that hadn't settled yet.

She coughed, and her chest burst in pain with each jolt. Fractured rib, she diagnosed inwardly. She felt the sheriff's fingers dig into her shoulder and draw her slightly closer to him, but she shook her head as she extended a hand, pressing it against his chest to steady herself as much as keep the distance between them.

The last thing she wanted right now was to become a source of concern for him, especially after what had just happened. He seemed to worry for quite many things already, and the bombing was very unlikely to remedy this. He really didn't need any more on his plate.

Additionally, she didn't like seing people worry over her. For some reason, it always made her feel uncomfortable.

And so she swallowed to clear her throat, ignoring the throbbing, raised her eyes to his, managed a small smile and her lips parted to allow her to speak – but:

- "Sheriff?" A woman's voice called out hesitantly from above their head, cutting her off. Grace looked up and saw the woman in black – Isabelle, she recalled - staring at them with a mixture of disbelief and hesitation. At that Grace realized how the scene must look to an outsider. Her cheeks heat up and she hastily retracted her arm. She was about to babble that it wasn't what it looked like, but bit back her words. Experience had taught her that this would only make things look more suspicious. Instead, she decided that it was time for her to get to her feet and leave those two alone. They had vampire business to discuss, and she had to… Well, she…

She frowned. Sookie.

The blonde's image jumped in front of her eyes. She had been standing very close to the entrance… Grace's throat clenched and she meant to get up to look for the girl. But unlike her, the sheriff hadn't dropped his hand, which was gently, yet inexorably, holding her back. She looked at him.

- "You are injured. You should not be moving." He said reasonably.

- "It's really nothing serious, sheriff." She said soothingly to shake his concern off. She pushed his hand away, and jumped to her feet. "See?" She exclaimed with only the smallest grimace at the pain caused by the sudden move. She'd suffered worse before, and knew that she'd recover from a superficial bone fracture in no time.

It didn't take her long to spot Sookie. She was kneeling next to Eric, who was lying on his back, and sucking at his chest. SHe couldn't see her face, but he certainly looked like he was greatly enjoying the experience. Grace quickly made her way over to them.

- "Errr… Sookie – What are you doing?" She asked the blond, who jumped slightly but didn't turn around.

- "Ugh - helping out Eric." She answered in a clearly disgusted voice. "Some silver got stuck in his wounds so they can't heal, sucking them out is the only way to dislodge them …"

- "What do you mean they can't heal?" Grace interrupted, trying to recall Han's words on the topic as she massaged her chest absentmindedly. "Silver can weaken vampires, but not prevent them for healing."

- "But Eric said…" Sookie looked up at Grace in confusion, then down at Eric again.

Grace followed her stare. The giant vampire had his arms under his head, his eyes were closed and satisfaction was written all over his face. Grace suspected it was both satisfaction at having Sookie's lips suck at his chest, and at having managed to trick her into doing this in the first place. She was about to say that Eric had lied, but the othergirl seemed to have already reached that conclusion.

- "You big liar!" She yelled, stomping her fist against his chest, only to make his grin widen. "You big fat LIAR!" She yelled again, this time jumping to her feet. "Bill!" She called out to the dark-haired vampire from before, who was returning from having escorted the she-vampire out, and running into his arms. She explained what Eric had done, and the dark-haired shot Eric a look of pure spite. Not that the latter seemed to care. The tall vampire deliberately slowly rose from the ground, watching Bill and Sookie walk away before turning to Grace.

- "Where is Godric?" Were Eric's first word to her. She looked over the spot where he had been talking to Isabel, but it was empty.

- "I don't know," she answered with a shrug as she turned back to the giant. "By the way - I'm doing just fine, thanx for asking." She said with just a trace of sarcasm before turning away from him, not wanting to see his self-centred face any longer. He had just tricked a naïve human into drinking his blood, which meant that he would always be able to tell where she was, and sense her fiercest emotions. Not to mention the erotic visions she'd most likely have of him. Of course it may seem like there were worst things in life, but to Grace it was very similar to mind-raping.

She walked away without looking, and trod on something soft. Looking down, she saw an arm. Not attached to a body.

... Fuck, she thought in disgust. She averted her eyes, but now that she only had her surroundings to focus on, she saw devastation everywhere they landed on. The dust had finally settled, and the sight was horrendous.

Limbs and unidentifiable bloody body parts, scattered across the room. Ponds of blood. Severly wounded people moaning in pain. Cries of anguish.

Grace closed her eyes. She had always thought that watching the news on TV and action movies would have prepared her for that kind of secenery – but no. And when she took a deep breath through the nose to calm herself down, she realized that there was one thing that could not be captured by filming. Or shut out by closing your eyes.

Scent. The air smelled like burnt, burnt, burnt.

Burnt fabric. Burnt material. And worst of all - burnt flesh.

Suddenly, she was feeling nauseous. Badly. She had to get out of there.

Grace balled a hand and into a fist and pressed it against the wall. Using it as support, she made her way to the entrance as steadily as she could, not noticing the pair of clear eyes that followed her out..

The moment she had stepped into the garden, she fell on her knees and started retching. Maybe having come here on an empty stomach hadn't been such a bad idea, because at least, nothing was coming out.

See, the situation could have been much worse, she told herself sarcastically. You could have been puking your guts out on the sheriff's front yard right now.

- "What are you doing?" A familiar voice soon asked above her in a slightly curious tone, and Grace shut her eyes in exasperation.

Scratch her previous thoughts. The situation could NOT have been worse.

- "Bein' sick." She mumbled. That was all she could manage.

- "… Sick?" Eric repeated sceptically. Then another spasm overcame her, and he seemed to understand her condition. "UGH! Ugh – seriously, humans…" His voice was half annoyed, half disgusted, but he didn't move away from her.

She wanted to retort that she certainly wasn't holding him back and would be more than happy to see him leave, only she didn't trust herself enough to open her mouth and utter such a long sentence.

- " 'tcha dun' here?" She asked through gritted teeth instead.

- "Godric ordered me to find you and bring you to him." He informed her rather shortly, and she cursed inwardly. Meeting the sheriff in her current state was not exactly what she wished for most right now.

- "Why?" She inquired.

- "I don't question Godric's motives." Eric answered delicately.

Grace almost snorted at that. From what she had seen of their interaction, Eric did question Godric's motives a lot – but the latter's answers seemed to be rather cryptic. When not simply inexistent.

- "You mean you asked but he didn't reply." She uttered painfully. Keeping her face to the ground, she straightened her back, and rubbed her hands on her jeans to clean the dirt and grass from them.

- "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear you, doll girl – what did you just say?" She looked up at him to see his face slightly turned to the side, his ear exageratedly extended in her direction, one hand cupped behind it.

- "Nothing." She muttered. Given his vampire sense of hearing she was pretty sure he had understood her alright, but preferred not to try her luck in Godric's absence. "Where is he?"

- "Carmilla hotel. Godric's called a council there, to try and prevent the vampires to retaliate against the Fellowship." Grace frowned, before remembering that the bomber had actually introduced himself as a member of the sect. Seemed like the right thing to do, she thought, but from his expression and tone of voice, it was clear that Eric would disagree.

- "Anyways." He shrugged. "Let's go." He snapped.

Grace pondered that. She wanted to know what was going to happen next, and going to the Carmilla would be the best way to be kept in the loop. She could tend to her injured rib later.

- "Gimme a minute. I'll get my car. Join you there". She said briefly as she slowly tried to get to her feet, not looking at him.

- "I don't think so, no." He said firmly, landing a heavy hand on her shoulder and jerking her to her feet. "He told me to bring you back safe to the hotel. So you're coming with me." He went on, supremely ignoring her yelp of pain.

- "Trust me, I'm no more happy with this than you are. So let's make this as short as possible."

For a brief moment she wondered whether he was going to carry her there and was about to protest – as much for his sake as for hers, really – but he only held out a hand to her. She raised a questioning eyebrow.

- "Keys?" He clarified with a roll of his eyes and the air of someone explaining the obvious to a dim-wit. She retrieved her car keys from her jacket angrily, but silently. Before she could lay them in his outstretched plam, he snatched them from her hand, pushed the remote-opening button, swished towards the vehicle which had bipped, and a couple of seconds later had settled himself in the driver's seat. Grace just stood there for a moment, but then the window was down and an arm was stuck out, waiving energetically at her. She shook her head, and made her way to the car. As she slouched into the passenger's seat, she noticed how ridiculous the tall vampire looked in there. Her car was a very small model, the seat much too close to the wheel and the top too low for a man his size.

She smirked. His awkwardness was a small comfort, but a comfort still.

- "Couldn't have bought a pick-up like the regular American, could you." He rhetorically asked through gritted teeth, as he adjusted the seat as best as he could and started the engine. She ignored the comment, and smirked on.

They drove in silence for the rest of the trip, and although she caught him staring at her in the mirror from the corner of her eye, she didn't return any of his glances.

When they finally arrived at the hotel, Eric walked out of the car and into the lobby, only to vanish from sight the moment after. Leaving her awkwardly standing alone in the hall. With the flow of people rushing in and out, however, no one paid her the slightest attention, which suited her just fine.

The reception was in an uproar. The staff all seemed busy giving directions to the medics, answering phones that kept ringing, and trying to calm down people. Grace leaned on the counter and waited.

- "How can I help you miss?" A woman asked hurriedly as she finally hung up the phone she'd been holding with one hand, while furiously scribbling with the other one. She looked very young, and panicked. Grace's eyes skidded to her badge, which read "In training". She felt sorry for the girl. Bad night to be new in the Carmilla hotel.

Grace asked to be led to the sheriff, and the girl just stared, her eyes widening slightly with incomprehension. However, before Grace could ask to speak with a more senior member of the staff, the trainee was being pushed away by an older woman, who looked much more in control of her nerves. She asked for Grace's name calmly, and after typing God knows what on her computer, nodded to herself before looking up at Grace again to ask for proof of ID. Grace plunged a hand inside the inner pocket of her jacket, where she had put her badge and driver's licence. Only to grasp at emptiness. She tried all other pockets: nothing. They must have dropped during the explosion, and she wasn't carrying any other kind of papers.

- "I'm afraid I can't let you in, then." The receptionist said without batting an eye, and Grace knew that there would be very little point in arguing. Given the events of the evening, very tight security instructions must have been given.

Instead, she resolved to wait until he went out. She took advantage of the waiting time to go to the bathroom, and grimaced as she caught her reflection in the glass.

She was covered in dust, dirt, and blood, although she knew it wasn't hers. Her clothes were slightly singed, her jacket mostly she noticed with a pang of sadness. It had been Han's present for her 21st birthday. He hadn't elaborated on the material, but had told her that it would make for a very good protection. So she had taken to wear it even on hot days, and it made her feel safer. Rightly so, she thought, looking at its back in the mirror. It was completely burnt out, probably from the heat wave of the explosion. She preferred not to think about what would have happened if she hadn't been carrying it. She wouldn't be able to wear it again, now, she realized with a small sigh. But then images from the sheriff's living room came back to her mind, and she chided herself for the materialistic thought. It was only a jacket, nothing compared to what had been lost that night.

Grace lifted her eyes to look at her her face. She was very white, even more so than usual, and the stark contrast with the black singes and maroon-ish drying blood on her clothes made her look somewhat ghostly.

She washed her hands and face, went back into the hall, sank in a nearby couch, closed her eyes and started massaging her temples. After a while, she felt a presence hovering above her. Sure enough, when she opened her eyes, a figure was looming over her.

Not the one she expected though – not by a long shot.

For a couple of seconds she just sat there, gaping slightly, but then she jumped to her feet.

-" Han! What…?" She stared in Korean, the language she always spoke with him. And which came to her naturally when she was feeling particularly emotional.

-"Am I doing here?" He finished for her in the same language. His arms were crossed over his chest, and she supposed some would have shrunk under the icy look he was giving her. But she knew this was his own way to express concern, and felt a pang of guilt. Of course, he was here because of her. He must have felt the flicker of fear that had sized her for a split second before the explosion. Fear was not something she usually allowed to flow into their bond, and he must have ticked at that.

- "What happened, Grace?" He continued, frowning as he took in her pitiful state. She told him quickly about the explosion at the sheriff's place, and his frown deepened.

- "Why were you there?" He asked, slowly unfolding his arms to land his hands on his hips.

Ah, she thought. This was where she was getting in trouble for not abiding to her mentor's #1 Rule of Safety, aka the Do-Not-Get-Involved-With-Vampires (As-Long-As-You-Can-Avoid-It) Law.

- "It's complicated." She stalled. "Listen, you should go." She raised her hands to his chest, trying to push him away from her and back towards the entrance door. "The place is swamped with vampires and –" But he just caught both of her hands in one of his and held them in front of her.

- "I saw. Which is why we are both going." He said as he started steering her towards the door. "Besides, I have pressing matters to discuss with you."

- "Han… You go. I'm all right, and I have something to do here." She said firmly, albeit apologetically, as she refused to follow in his steps. She didn't like opposing him, but he didn't know what he was talking about. As for whatever pressing matters he was referring to, there was little chance they could be as pressing as a vampire- and human- killing suicide bombing in one of Texas' most important city's sheriff's home.

He looked into her eyes for a couple of seconds, and she held his stare. Something she didn't usually do with him.

- "I see." He said finally. "In this case, I will be waiting for you here." He released her hands, and she knew she wouldn't be able to make him budge. A tiny part of her was actually selfishly satisfied that his will to protect her was stronger than that to avoid his kind. After all, Han was the only being she had ever met who was stronger than her. Until the sheriff, that was. In any case, he had taken care of her, and he was the only one in whose presence she felt safer than on her own.

Not that she would ever admit it to his face.

But then a not-so-discreet cough was heard on her left, bursting her fragile bubble of peacefulness.

- "Eric." Grace acknowledged before even looking at him. "Where is Sheriff Godric?"

- "Busy" was the blonde's concise answer. "Who's this fucker?" He asked darkly, jerking his head towards Han. To the point, she thought. Eric was very obviously not in a happy mood. She shrugged off his question with a dismissive "Just a friend" as Han's hand landed softly, yet unmistakably possessively, on her shoulder.

Eric's eyebrows rose by a fraction as he inspected the object of his interrogation.

- "Where is Godric?" she asked again before he could inquire further.

- "You know, doll" he said after a short while as his eyes settled on her once more, "If you had been so keen on being kept up to date you could have joined us instead of engaging in idle chat with friends". He sounded pissed, and emphasized the word as if to imply he very much doubted that friendship was the actual nature of their relationship. But the slightly distant look in his eyes told her it didn't really have anything to do with Han, and that he was only venting his anger on her. Must have been something that had happened in there, then.

- "I lost my ID at the sheriff's place, couldn't get in." She countered. It was a bit rich from him, too – he was the one who had just left her standing there without so much as a beginning of explanation of what to do. But she kept that for herself. "So – where is he?" she urged him on instead. Eric shrugged his broad shoulders.

- "Discussing vampire matters over the phone with the authority." His expression darkened even more, and he all but spit the last word. He obviously did not bear any love for the authority, of which Grace only knew that they were a kind of vampire government. "But this is none of your human business. Godric only asked me to tell you that he had booked a room for you." Eric paused there. "A single room, I would assume" he said, jabbing a thumb in Han's direction, and she rolled her eyes. "I'll go get the keys for you, and then we're done here." He started striding towards the reception, but Han spoke for the first time since Eric had interrupted them.

- "This won't be necessary." A pause. "I will be taking her home." He said coolly. Eric stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back.

- "Godric wants her to stay there tonight. Which means that she's staying here tonight." He said in a delicate tone which was rather contradicted by a dangerous smile.

- "Grace needs rest." Han replied in the same voice.

Grace brought fingertips to her brow as she dropped her head and scrunched up her eyes. It was just what she needed, being caught up in a battle of egos. For a moment she vaguely considered snapping at them both for not so much asking her opinion, which was definitely what her cousin Hye Na and probably what her new friend Sookie would have done. But she figured that lowering the tension between those two was probably more urgent that standing up for human rights right now.

- "She's not at this Godric's disposal." Han added with a hint of disdain before she could say anything.

Uh-oh.

Grace dropped her hand to look up at Eric, fearing that he may have interpreted that as a mark of disrespect towards his beloved maker.

And indeed, Eric's smile had frozen on his face, and there was a gleam she didn't quite like in his eyes.

- "Sorry – say that again?" He was now edging towards her Sabom-nim in a deliberately slow, yet menacing pace.

- "Eric, listen…" She started soothingly as she stepped between them, only to be sept away carelessly. The back of his hand caught her right on her injured rib, and crippling pain burst in her chest.

In his anger, Eric had used much more strength than necessary, and the blow sent her flying a couple of feet away as the wind was knocked off her lungs. The back of her head hit the wall forcefully, and a thousand tiny lights erupted in front of her eyes as she felt someone slid an arm around her waist and a shoulder under her armpits, keeping her from sliding onto the ground.

"Little one." Han's voice whispered into her ear as he held her. Grace took a breath in, and grimaced as her fingers clenched on the arm that was still supporting her firmly. But she shook her head to signal that she would not be needing his blood.

She was about to speak when a clear voice rang from across the hall.

Aaaaaand - one more chapter!

At some point I reallly wondered whether I would find the time to write it.

But whenever I get an alert telling me that someone just reviewed or favourited or is following the story, that keeps me reaaaally motivated so continue to do so and I'll definitely keep on updating :) (yep because I have quite a lof of ideas for this story)