Old Friends
A Get Well Soon! O/S for AlisonbyNumbers/NorthmanMaille
By Missus T
Beta A Redhead Thing
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Charlaine Harris. I don't own them, but I wonder about the time before we met them...

A/N:

Here's a little One Shot story for Alisonbynumbers/Northman Maille who is an avid SVM reader and all around awesome gal! She's been in the hospital, and a group of SVM authors and friends from the Sookieverse have written fics for her, so check them out under the alison-beads-of-fiction account! http:/www(DOT)fanfiction(DOT)net/u/2419303/Alison_beads_of_fiction

While I would love to hear what you think of this o/s because I LOVED writing it, this story is being reposted on Alison's profile – so please take the extra effort and leave her some get well wishes as a review over there as well.

Ali -
You may have been expecting either HE or LOF Eric, and so was I, but this is what came out...Get well soon! The Sookieverse is missing you! - T

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It was early in my night, but late if you were human, and my lover was drifting to sleep when I returned to our room after taking a phone call. I stretched out on the bed, pulling her warm body against my chest.

"Sookie, I must take a trip. Alison is in the hospital. I need to see for myself that she is getting the best care possible. Pam will be here shortly. I've contacted Anubis, the flight is this afternoon, so we will need to rest in our travel coffins for the day. They will pick us up and transport us to the airport."

"Alright," she said tentatively.

I squeezed her in reassurance. "You are coming with us, dear one. It's time that you meet her in person."

"I would like that. You and Pam speak so highly of her. How did you meet her again?"

My thoughts went back to several years before the reveal when I was visiting Pam in London, and I began to tell Sookie the story.

It was a pleasant summer night and I was heading to meet my child at a pub that she enjoyed dining at. She claimed that the clientele was young and fresh, with blood that was untainted by the drugs and filth that so many young people experimented with.

I caught the scent of the young woman walking ahead of me. Her blond hair was flowing in the breeze, and she was wearing a short dress with tall heels that made her legs look a mile long. I tasted her scent on the wind and considered having a snack before meeting Pam, but the woman looked over her shoulder and smiled at me, and I was completely unnerved.

No one smiled at me, they feared me and wanted to fuck me, but she smiled like she knew me and my secrets. I was intrigued to say the least.

She continued walking, and I began to wonder if we had the same destination, as she took the same route I had planned.

We were less than a block from the pub when she stopped, turning to face me.

"Hello, luv. I hate to disappoint, but I'm not interested in being your meal."

I cocked my head. Did she know what I was? What I had been thinking? Could she be a telepath? I hadn't met one in centuries. "What's that?"

"I said, I'm not interested in being your dinner, luv."

"Why would you say something like that?" I stepped closer, but she smelled nothing more than human.

She hesitated, as if not sure how to answer. "I've a gift; my Gran called it the sight. You've a glow to you when there's no light shining upon you. Others may not see it, but I do. You'll be here to meet with Pam, am I right?"

Interesting; a human with an anomaly. She was precious, valuable even. I wondered what other beings she could identify by their aura. "I am. My name is Eric, Pam is my child."

She snorted. "Well, then you've done a piss poor job raising her. She's a bloody bitch."

I threw my head back and laughed.

The door to the pub opened, and Pam stepped out. She was dressed in vintage Dior, with perfectly coiffed hair and the smooth skin of a young woman that hadn't changed since I turned her.

"Eric," she said flatly. "I see you've met Alison. I wondered if you were dining without me. I felt you here, but you did not come in to join me." She inclined her head towards Alison in greeting, and it was the kindest gesture towards a human I had seen from my child in decades. "Good evening Ali, come in so Eric can buy you a pint."

"Thanks Pam, and be careful, I saw some shifters on my way here."

"Shifters?" I asked. "Or weres?"

She looked at me like I was a fool. "There's a distinct difference, as I expect you know well. They were shifters."

She walked into the pub, leaving me in the moonlight with my child.

"That was interesting." I raised an eyebrow at Pam. "She has skills that would serve me well." I could smell weres and shifters on my own, but having a human that could detect them during my daytime rest would be useful.

Pam snorted back at me. "You're thinking of taking pets now?"

"No," I sighed. "But I am gathering assets. The reveal will be upon us in no time and I will be prepared when it comes."

"Always," she said quietly.

It spoke volumes of her understanding of the risks of revealing the vampire race to humans. She was a bitch, but I had raised my child well.

"Alison is an interesting human. She has no problem sharing information with us as long as we abstain from feeding on her. I do admit that I have been sorely tempted to see if there is something special in her blood. But she is resistant to glamour. It can be done, but it takes some effort. A young vampire would find her a definite challenge."

I spent the next month in London with Pam and enjoyed Alison's company. We talked about her gift, and how she stopped telling anyone about it because even her family thought she was crazy. It had only been her grandmother who understood the rarity of her talent. But that is how it is in every generation; it's the older ones that value the differences in people and the young ones that want to be lost in the herd of sheep.

We talked of the things that Pam and I had experienced in our many years, and I found myself looking forward to the evenings that she joined us at the pub.

One evening, I arrived to the pub to find it closed and surrounded by firemen. Pam grabbed my arm, pulling me into the shadows.

"What is it?"

"Weres," she spat out.

I searched the air. I hadn't detected them as I approached.

"Not now. They're gone. Alison came by early, and the pub was full of them. She started a fire in the bathroom to clear the place out."

My eyes scanned the crowd and I examined the scents in the air even more carefully. In the distance was the distinct smell of bear. They were still here, but not close. A large group of were bears had taken residence in London over the past century, and they were apparently not interested in having Pam and I use the local pub as a food source.

If it had been wolves, I would have hunted them down, I had a history with them and I would have killed one just to find out if they were part of the group I had been following for hundreds of years. You didn't fuck with bears though, not even I was interested in stirring up a fight with them. I slipped into the shadows and down a side street away from the scene.

Pam caught up with me after a few blocks. Glancing at her out of the corner of my eye, I stopped. Her jacket was ripped, and her own blood was dried on her lapel.

"You were inside the pub when it was evacuated?"

She nodded almost imperceptibly. "I was just coming through the doors. One of them took a swipe at me on the way out."

"Pamela," I growled. "Were you following food or fuck?"

"It was a combo meal."

"Damn it, Pam. We're done here. I've been offered a Sheriff's position in Louisiana. I was undecided, but it seems that we're no longer welcome here. I will accept the job, and you will join me. It appears that you have grown careless and could benefit from some time serving your Master."

She clenched her teeth, but did not say a word.

"What is your response?"

"Yes, Master." She said through her teeth, and I saw her fangs peeking out.

"We need to make arrangements tonight, we'll leave tomorrow. And you will compensate Alison for saving your undead life."

She nodded, contrite.

I returned to my rooms to make some phone calls and pack. Life as a vampire had always been transient, and though I was making this move sooner than I intended, it would be just another phase in my very long life.

Our arrangements were in place when I readied myself for the dawn. I looked forward to the day when I did not need to check myself as cargo on a vamp owned aircraft to travel, yet it was much better than the days of sea voyages filled with diseased and disgusting humans crammed together like cattle.

Pam had arranged to have Alison meet us at a coffee bar owned by another vampire. We did not have much time, but we owed her, especially Pam. I stood in the entry, waiting for Pam to finish speaking with the human.

I did not have many friends, of any race. Human concepts such as that had little room in the vampire world, but as we approached the reveal, I found myself realizing that alliances with humans would require more delicacy than those with other beings. Alison had been the first human in centuries to surprise me and uncover even a tendril of humanity in my soul.

We were taking too long. My child had grown complacent living without fear of detection or exposure. I sighed. We walked a fine line between preparing for the reveal and keeping ourselves alive. "Pamela, it is time."

She nodded, taking a slow step back from Alison and walked directly to the car.

Alison smiled at me again. I was amazed at the inkling of warmth that I felt whenever she did that. I stepped forward and took her warm hand in my cool one. "My child has given you monetary compensation for your assistance, yes?"

She sighed. "Yes, Eric. Pam paid me for being your friend."

I cocked my head. "That is not what occurred."

She touched my cheek with her fingertips. "It is, Eric, but I know you can't understand that. Maybe one day you will. Good luck to you. Maybe I will come visit you someday."

"You will always be welcome, and you will always have my protection."

"Thanks. I'll miss the two of you. It was nice to feel normal for a while."

I raised an eyebrow. "You are exceptional, don't settle for normal."

She laughed, and I turned on my heel, leaving the coffee shop and England behind me.

The reveal and the internet had made keeping in touch with allies and acquaintances much easier. Shortly after Pam created the Fangtasia fan page on Facebook, she came to my office beaming.

"You'll never guess who is a fan of Fangtasia."

"You're right. I will not guess."

She smiled. "Alison."

I hesitated; it had been almost five years. That was quiet a long time in human years. "Alison? As in, Alison who saved you from a were attack?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Why do you always bring that up? I would have been fine. But yes, that Alison."

And thus our friendship was renewed. It wasn't even strange for me to consider her a friend, that's how much the reveal had changed things in the vampire world; friends were no longer humans that you enjoyed for a snack.

Alison had been sick during the time we had been estranged and had spent a large amount of time in the hospital. She refused my offer of sending someone to provide her with a dose of vampire blood to improve her health and prevent further complications or relapses; and now she was ill again. If she would not accept vampiric assistance, she would at least receive the best care humanly possible. I would see to that.

I sighed, although unnecessarily, my thoughts returning to the present.

Sookie's small hands stroked my arms as I held her. "So she saved Pam?"

"Yes, lover, and she brought me to you. For that I will always be in her debt."

"Me too," she whispered as her breathing evened out and she fell asleep.

I held her, thinking about the wondrous things that I had seen in my thousand years, yet it was these two beautiful blond women that amazed me more than anything else. How they had been able to wrap themselves around my heart was nothing short of a miracle.

00oo00oo00oo00

A/N:

Well? What did you think? I loved it! I hope you did too!

Okay, if you're reading you know how much I love to hear how you feel, but if you only want to leave one review for this – PLEASE, leave it as a get well for Alison. Thanks so much!

http:/www(DOT)fanfiction(DOT)net/u/2419303/Alison_beads_of_fiction