A/N:

Yes, these are an odd version of the characters created and owned by Charlaine Harris. Thanks to her for letting us play with them!

And thanks to Vamplover1, who can somehow manage to figure out what I really meant to write, and make sense of it all!

^j^ ^..^

Sookie

"Bill Compton, I just cannot believe you," I started in on him. "Yes, I'm going somewhere. Barry and I are getting out of this, this, where ever we are, and I am going home. Don't you call me or stop by the bar; I never want to see your sorry self again."

Bill had almost appeared out of nowhere it seemed, along with a tall, gorgeous guy.

"You are home, Sookie. This is where you belong." His voice was soft and a little odd-sounding.

"No way. Bill, you must be nuts." I started to push past him. "Come on, Barry," I said and grabbed his arm.

Bill took a step, yanked Barry's arm out from my hand and shoved him up against the wall. "Don't touch her," he growled as he loomed over Barry.

"Leave him alone," I snarled, and went to pull him away from Barry. He didn't move when I tugged on his arm, so I took a step back and kicked him in the back of the knee. He buckled a little bit then, and half-staggered a foot or so away from Barry, who saw his chance. He held both hands together in a fist and swung into Bill's face. Blood spurted from somewhere, and Bill put both hands to his face for a second. I grabbed Barry and told him to run, but I had forgotten about Bill's companion. He was watching us with all the interest of a five-year old who has stirred up an ant hill with a stick. I thought he might just kill us with all the consideration he'd have for one of those ants. I hoped that wasn't a real thought I had picked up out of his head, but he just grabbed both of us in an iron grip.

I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp but got nowhere. I decided that being quiet and sneaky had gotten me nothing, so I yelled "Ow! You're hurting my arm! Ow!" as loudly as I could. He gave me a disgusted look, but his grip loosened up just a little bit. I pulled hard again, enough to shove the bandage off my arm and open up the scabs on it. "Ow! Now I'm bleeding all over! Your rabid dog bit me, and now I'm going to bleed to death!" Bill had gotten his feet back under him and looked at me. He grabbed my arm away from the big guy and looked at the marks on it. He raised it up and licked the blood off it.

"Ew, Bill, get your gross tongue off me! Yuck!" I kicked at him again and he threw me casually towards the wall. I huddled on the floor for a few seconds and stood up. The cut on my wrist was bleeding more now. I put some pressure on it with the other hand. Bill had Barry up against the other wall, towering over him and talking in a low voice. Barry was nodding slowly. Tall and Gorgeous was just standing and watching again. I pushed off against the wall and launched myself at Bill's back. It was like hitting a brick wall. I bounced off a little and Bill turned and put me up against the wall next to Barry. He must be doing some kung-fu training somewhere, I thought, dazed. He was awfully fast.

"Compton, stop playing with the little ones. We have better things to do tonight. Unless you want to share the girl?"

"She is mine," growled Bill.

"I am not yours, you jerk!" I tried to push off of the wall. Bill looked at me funny.

"Oh, yes you are," he said with no intonation. It felt like kindergarten - Am not! Are so! It didn't feel like games though when Bill slapped me in the face hard enough that I saw stars that sparkled into blackness.

When I woke up it was still absolutely black. It didn't feel like I had been out that long. I sat up carefully, from what felt like a dirt floor. I could hear Barry singing in his head.

"Barry? Where are you? Can you hear me?" I heard movement to my right and the song in Barry's head changed to "Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you hear me Major Tom…?"

"Barry!" I crawled over and felt him leaning up against a wall. He jumped when I touched him.

"Sorry," he said. "It makes it easier to keep him out of my head if I go somewhere else, you know." I didn't know.

"What?" I asked him.

"If I try real hard, he can't get his thoughts into me. Haven't you tried it?"

I shook my head slowly, then realized that he couldn't see me either in the pitch black. I said "no" with some uncertainty in my voice. Get in my head?

"I don't understand," I told him after some thought.

"Some of them can put thoughts into your head, make you do things, think things. Doesn't he do it to you?"

Poor Barry. What kind of drugs had they given him, I wondered, to be imagining things like that? Then again, it was just messed up enough down here that I was starting to believe anything could be real.

"No," I answered. "At least I don't think so." That was just a guess on my part. Would I know if someone else had beamed thoughts into me? I wasn't sure. I leaned up on the wall next to Barry.

"Where are we now?"

"In the basement, I guess. I haven't been here before..." his voice trailed off.

My head didn't hurt too badly, and I got up cautiously. I felt my way around the room, moving slowly in case there was anything besides Barry to trip on. I found a locked door - the knob didn't even budge. I made my way back to Barry. "Are you OK?"I asked him belatedly.

"Yeah, just weak right now."

"Did he hit you, too?"

"Uh, yeah." He was lying; I could tell even in the dark but didn't push him on it. We needed to get out again. I wondered how long it would take to dig out through the dirt. I dug at it a little with my hands, and didn't get far before my hands were sore. The dirt was very hard. If this didn't have a door it would feel like a tomb, unsure if it was my own thought or Barry's.

I dozed a little in the dark, as did Barry. I almost missed the sound of the key slipping into the lock.

I stood up and pulled Barry to his feet. We both stood backed up against the wall. The door opened to a dim light that was still nearly blinding after the complete darkness. While I blinked and squinted, a soft female voice said "Here you are! Come on out now, and hurry!" It was the same voice we had heard earlier outside the closet. I shrugged my shoulders at Barry, and we walked forward.

Once we were in the hallway, the door was closed behind us and I heard the click of the lock and the key being pulled free.

"Let's go; they're looking for you already." It was the same woman and she led us back toward some stairs. I hoped this would turn out better than the last set of stairs had.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Claudine," she answered simply.

"What's going on here?"

She turned and beamed a bright smile at me. "You'll find out soon enough. First, we need to get you out."

She led us up the stairs and though yet another hallway that I didn't recognize.

It was just plain scary. I heard what sounded like shrieks in the distance and saw flashes of light. There was a pile of dusty looking dirt on the floor, shaped like a body, and a little farther past it a naked man lay on the floor with his throat torn out. I gave a sharp gasp, and Claudine turned like a top and had her hand over my mouth before I could draw another breath.

"Not a word from either of you," she said in a commanding voice, looking at us. I nodded, feeling a little sick.

There were blood puddles, on the floor and I found out that they were quite slick when I almost slipped and fell in one. Claudine held me upright. "You don't want to fall in that, you'll really attract attention." Barry nodded in agreement. The dogs, I thought. They would be all over me if I was covered in blood. Another body was on the floor with a big cut in its chest. The arms and legs were missing, with more of the dirt lying around it. Claudine looked at it with satisfaction. "Ah, good," she said and gave it a little kick. More dirt fell off it in a soft cloud of dust. I looked away and concentrated on Claudine's back as she continued down the hall. I will not be sick, I will not be sick, I told myself firmly. Fortunately, it seemed like forever since that sandwich I'd eaten. I was glad I hadn't found anything else to nibble on during my wait for freedom. Two men and one woman lay dead on the floor. Those are some that I helped Bill get, I heard a surprised Barry think before he looked away from them.

Farther down the hallway were still more bodies. The air was thick in some spots with a fine dust. It reminded me of the haunted houses at Halloween, where you pay a dollar or two and get led through rooms of 'gore' made up from red Jello and mannequin parts. All it needed here was a few black lights and strobes. And it needed the smell of Jello since right now it smelled terrible.

Claudine opened the door to a room and motioned us in with a hurry-up gesture. Closing the door and locking it behind us, she grabbed my arm and took me along in her wake. Barry followed us closely, as if he was afraid of being left behind. I couldn't blame him, I wanted out of this place so badly I could taste it. The room was large, and some people stood with their backs to us, facing a light so we could see nothing but the shapes of their bodies. I pulled back a little.

Claudine looked back at me. "It will be fine, I promise." I thought that her idea of fine and mine were two different things but followed her anyway. The figures moved apart as we got closer, and I could see they were gathered around a seated Niall, whom I recognized from the bar. He stood as we approached.

"Sookie," he said and held his hand out to me. I took it and he drew me into an unexpected and unfamiliar embrace. I moved back from him a little.

"Niall? What are you doing here?" Where ever 'here' was, he was the last person I expected to see, other than Bill. Then Eric stepped into the light, and I had to reassess - he was the absolute last person I expected to see. He moved forward and took my hand from Niall, who gave it up a little unwillingly I thought.

Eric had blood on his hands and face, and a big damp spot of it on his shirt. Everyone in the room, other than Niall, seemed to have blood on them, although I thought that Eric was the only one carrying a sword. I had never seen someone with a sword, outside of some movies, but Eric looked right with it. By then, he might have looked good to me with anything, I was so glad to see him. The group of people in the room made Barry and me look very plain, I thought. A couple of the guys were as pale as Eric, but every one of them was strikingly handsome. There were a few women and they were beautiful. Eric brought his arm around me. I resisted for just a second, not wanting to get blood all over myself, then realized that was silly, I already had blood all over my shirt from fighting with Bill earlier.

"Eric, I'm sorry," I began, wanting to apologize for leaving him at the bar, although I really didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Shh," he quieted me. "This isn't the time."

"This is Sookie, who is of my blood," announced Niall. "And Eric Northman, who has claimed her. I have allowed him to provide her with protection." The crowd looked at me and nodded, although some gave Eric a good hard look, as I would have, if I could have turned around to do so.

"No," said Eric in my ear. "Do not make this any more difficult than it already is." He held me firmly in place. I took a deep breath and said nothing. But as soon as I was out of here, he was going to get more than a piece of my mind, right after Bill Compton.

"My lord, they have blocked all of the exits." One of the men had knelt down and was talking to Niall.

"Excellent," said Niall. "We know where they all are then?"

"Most of the ones in this area. A few more may be loose, but Breandan is reluctant to let them out of his sight and command. They hunted tonight, and many of them are tired from the chase. Or sated," he added with a long look at one of the paler men.

"Here is the plan then." Niall began sketching on a piece of paper. Eric placed me in a chair.

"Go absolutely nowhere without me," he told me softly and kissed me lightly on the forehead. He closed his eyes for a moment and seemed to gather himself before he left me to join the group gathered around Niall. I pinched myself. This was starting to feel like a nightmare that had gone on for too long. I didn't wake up, though. Barry sat in a chair near me and put his head in his hands. I can't believe I helped with that, I heard him think. I looked at him and he looked back. Someday, you'll understand.

The gathering around Niall talked and planned for what seemed like a long time. A few people came in and out of the room, reporting to Niall or getting directions from him. Eric was watching it all with interest, occasionally commenting on something in a voice too low for me to hear. Some of them had knives or swords almost like Eric's. I cat-napped a little bit and hoped to wake up at home. Instead, every time I woke up it was to look at the group of people making plans for something I didn't understand.

Once I saw Claudine wiping what looked like dried blood off of Barry's neck. A little later she brought some sandwiches, a pitcher of water, and some sort of juice.

"I hope you like chicken," she said as she set the plates in front of us. Barry and I both ate and drank ravenously, and I hope I wouldn't regret it later, remembering the bodies in the hallway. After we ate, Claudine led us to a bathroom tuck in a corner of the room. While we waited for Barry to finish, I asked Claudine what was going on.

"We're reordering the world. It takes a bit of planning." She smiled as she spoke. Her words made no sense to me at all, and I'm sure my expression showed it.

"Don't worry. Your Eric will explain it all to you someday. Or Niall, perhaps."

"But..."

"Don't worry," she repeated. I gave in for now.

When Barry came out of the little room, I looked surreptitiously at Barry's neck. It had a bunch of odd scars on it. I wondered what had happened to him. When we returned to the main part of the room, everyone was standing. Eric held his hand out to me, and I went to him.

"Stay with me. Do what I tell you to, and you'll be just fine." I started to object, then thought about the bodies in the hall again, the dogs running loose and the puddles of blood. Staying with him seemed like a better idea.

Eric

She had blood on her. If I hadn't already been exposed to enough fairy blood to make a hundred vampires drunk, it might have been a lot for even me to deal with. I took her hand out of Niall's. He seemed reluctant to give it up to me but did so anyway. We had fought our way into this room, which Niall had said was secure from Breandan. More Fairy magic, I supposed. I had stabbed one Fairy who was behind Niall, almost giving in to the temptation to let the dagger continue into Niall. I didn't, though. Better to wait until I had Sookie out. I'd only had a few sips of the fallen before they turned to dust. I didn't want my mind clouded in the middle of a good fight. As I had expected, Niall's plans didn't only involve freeing Sookie. He intended to kill Breandan and as many of his followers to make an example of them. For a race supposedly concerned with their dwindling numbers, they didn't have much thought about decreasing those numbers in battle.

Niall had come up with an acceptable plan, I thought, listening to it as Sookie drowsed in a chair. Claude and Claudine would lead a larger group to fight at the main exit, where most of Breandan's forces seemed to be massed. Because one of the twins normally accompanied Niall, Breandan should expect to find Niall with them. Breandan would want to kill Niall with his own hand, so we would wait to see if he took the bait, then we'd come up behind him. While this was happening, I was to take Sookie to one of the lesser guarded exits and get her out. Privately, I thought that my chances of catching Breandan myself at one of the other exits were just as good as Niall's chance of getting him at the main one. Breandan had never seemed like the kind of fighter to go in until he knew his forces had significantly weakened the opposition. He was as likely to cut and run if he thought his forces were not up to the fight – abandoning them in the process. Claudine had fed the two humans and taken them to see to their other needs. I approved; they would need some strength for what was coming.

When they walked back into the main part of the room, Sookie came to my outstretched hand, almost as if she were tame and hadn't fought off a Were earlier. She still seemed quite dazed by all that was going on around her.

I told her to stay with me and do as she was told. She looked at me with a spark of irritation, but then settled down. I approved. So far, her spirit hadn't been broken by whatever she'd seen, and she had enough sense to listen. Now, all I needed to do was get her out of here and kill as many Fairies as I could on the way. We'd see where that spirit would take her.

^j^ ^..^

Oh, the song in Barry's head - David Bowie's "Space Oddity", RCA records, of course.