Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It was Monday night, Sookie's day off from work. Waitressing had never been her dream career, but Merlotte's Bar and Grill was the only place in Bon Temps that would accept the girl. So, despite her gratitude for having a paid job, she was glad to have a day just for herself and her Gran, Adele Stackhouse. For weeks to come, she would be especially great full for being home that night, because otherwise she didn't know what sort of reaction she would have had to the news that popped on the TV.

She was doing the dishes after dinner. Mrs. Stackhouse had turned the TV on and Sookie could hear a woman's voice from the kitchen, but it was difficult to understand what was being said. As she finished her task and walked into the living room, she found her grandmother switching channels with a frantic look on her wrinkled face.

"Gran… Gran… Gran!", said Sookie with an amused voice.

"Look, Sookie! She is everywhere! I… I don't think it's a joke… Quickly… get the radio", the old lady's excitement matched her fully awake stare that traveled between the television and her granddaughter.

"Gran, what's going on? Who is she…",

The girl tried to ask her agitated grandmother while moving closer to the couch she was sitting on, but the elder woman stopped her by holding her arm.

"Please, sweetheart. Get the radio"

Sookie had seen that sort of look on her grans eyes before. She knew that something big was happening. Hurriedly she got the radio out of the closet, put it on the coffee table and turned it on.

Mrs. Stackhouse muted the TV and for a few seconds they didn't hear anything from the speaker. It was an old radio, much like everything else on the farm house. Generations of Stackhouse's had lived there, and it had been Sookie's home since she was six.

Suddenly a clear famine voice filled the air. It was the voice of that woman from the TV. And she was talking about vampires being real. Blood sucking entities that could only come out at night, and had hidden their existence from the human world for millennia. Those were her words: "the human world".

Sookie's head was spinning in the same loop fashion as the recorded message was being broadcasted on every station. Taking a deep breath, she turned off the radio and stared at the TV set. The blond woman was explaining something, and even though Mrs. Stackhouse had turned the volume up again Sookie couldn't hear a word. She was stunned.

That night, it was impossible to escape from the severe looking woman dressed in a conservative suit exposing her glistering fangs.

After listening to the same massage for the fifth time, Sookie began to understand what the vampire representative was actually saying. Apparently, Japanese scientists had created a form of synthetic blood called True Blood, which would be now sold on groceries stores, bars, gas stations and everywhere else beverages were commercialized. The bottled substance was supposed to serve as a substitute for human blood on vampire's diet. With this new discovery, the undead resolved it was time to step out of the coffin. As the woman said, they could now mainstream.

The simple fact that Sookie could believe the news should had been sufficient to put her in to shock for the rest of the night, but what stopped her from it was her grandmother's laughter. As the young girl looked down, the comforting hands of the woman who had raised her reached her face.

"Who would know? Maybe now everybody will realize that there is so much more to this world", said Mrs. Stackhouse with a wink.

Somehow, during the minutes, or perhaps hours, it took Sookie to comprehend what she had just seen on TV, she had sat on the couch. Her grandmother's soft touch and words brought tears to her eyes as they shared a spark of hope. After all, just like the elderly lady, she wasn't exactly scared about the news.

Don't misunderstand her, just like most people, Sookie never imagined vampires as something more than fiction or nightmare creations. Still, being something other herself, she could only hope that maybe she was not alone anymore.

As far as Sookie can remember, she has been able to read human minds. A telepath, as mystery and fantasy books had called people like her. Life is never ease when you can hear or even see what your family and classmates are thinking. Specially, if you can't discern between what was said and what was only thought. It was hard for Sookie to stay focused on class and on conversations. And even harder was to make friends or start relationships.

Her parents never truly believed she could hear all that was going through their minds. They never had the chance to, as Sookie was very young when she lost them. In order for her and her brother, Jason, not to end up in a foster home their grandmother welcomed them into her house. With her support Sookie figured out a way to block most of the invading thoughts and now can reasonably act normally around people. Not that it stops them from finding her strange or crazy at times. Sweet smiles usually are sufficient to stop their questions and persecutions.

So, even at the age of 21, she still had never met anyone with talents like her own. She understood what Mrs. Stackhouse meant. Maybe, now with the world opening up to the possibility of vampires roaming the earth, Sookie could find new perspectives for herself.