Disclaimer: - I own nothing but Arianna and Alex…. unfortunately.

Le long awaited chapter. :) Sorry it took so long, but it just HAD to be perfect. This, to me, is the perfect my readers deserved. A tough choice was made, but ultimately, the right choice was made...

ENJOY…

**Astrid's POV**

Pam had had me wait in that stupid office of Eric's for about an hour. A whole damn hour! Now I wasn't typically one to complain, but come on. She called me and then just makes me wait? Ugh, fucking vampires. The only upside, however, was that when she did finally show back up, we left immediately. Apparently Chow had been put in charge for the rest of the evening. What had kept her though, she wouldn't tell me. Like I said: fucking vampires.

Luckily, wherever we went after that wasn't far, even with me tailing her in my crappy truck.

It was basically a dingy old barn, maybe abandoned shed by the sized of it. Hopping out, I walked on over to it as she was doing. The only positive thing I could make out was that creepy and deserted, as this place seemed, I wasn't about to die tonight. She needed me. At least for now.

She hauled the old heavy door open before waiving me in even more impatiently than usual. It was weird to see her so riled up. "Well?"

I only made it in a few steps, enough to barely notice what seemed like the outline of a car towards the back, before almost staggering to a stop. I threw a hand out to brace myself on the rickety wall and took a few deep breaths.

"What?" a hint of actually curiosity in her dry voice.

I looked at her with a hint of a smile.

"Trust me. There is definitely something here."

…

…

**BACK AT ARI'S HOUSE**

…

…

**3rd Person**

The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife, a butcher knife, a sword, a butter knife even. It didn't matter. The point was there was definitely tension in the room. Hell, somebody could have walked by, taken out a cookie stencil and made all their favorite little shapes for all anybody cared! However, we're getting a little distracted now.

Both vampires looked as if having the girls cornered into their current place on the couches, with each of them staring intently, impatiently and silently wishing that what they were about to find out wouldn't be as big as them not even existing this time around. Even these ancients were finding it difficult at the moment not to simple snap and scream for one of them to say something, anything, already just so the silence would end.

At the same time, however, both girls were completely and irrevocably on the verge of what felt like either crying, the biggest migraine known to mankind, or simply passing out from the sheer confusion swirling around in their heads. What in the world were they about to tell them? They knew they couldn't stay quiet. That was a foolish hope even for them. They wracked their brain for any possible alibi, any possible trick, something to say that wouldn't garner them having to spew the truth. Or at least that's what our shy brunette was thinking. The redhead, though, now that was something. Even I'd thought I'd figured her out by now. I shouldn't known I could still be surprised.

**Ari's POV**

Oh, god. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. That's exactly what we are. How did this happening never so much as cross my mind? I get why it never occurred to Alex. I mean, I love my friend, honest to god I do, but she's never been the most 'observant' one of the bunch. But me? I should have seen this coming! I just knew I should have. This was probably my fault, too.

Screw this! I am so sick and tired of always being the one to freak out about everything. Well, not anymore, at least not right now anyway. This might officially mark me as an idiot, but, hey, if they haven't hurt us yet, then I think this is just about the perfect moment to take that risk.

I can do this. I can do it. I took a quick moment and mentally went over what I was just about to tell them. Okay, okay. I CAN do this.

"Okay, see the thing is… that… well…" I took a deep breath before looking them in the eyes. "You…"

"You might not believe this but the truth finally needs to be said. I simply cannot keep this in any longer." Alex suddenly said seriously, looking down at the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"No, Ari. They need to hear this. We can't keep this a secret anymore. It was foolish to think we ever could."

What in the world was she talking about? She sounded and looked completely serious. I'm sure both guys thought she meant every word, but I knew her well enough to know she was just about to do what I'd opted to call one of her 'inspirational bullshit speeches'. I had to stop her before she ruined this whole shot we had at fixing things and got us killed!

She stood up and I tried to stop her only to get a look that basically said 'Ari, please, just don't' before shrugging me off. She walked off slightly with her back still to us, and I actually started to get nervous at this point. I didn't miss Eric and Godric exchanging a quick look either. Oh, god what is she about to do?

Hands behind her back, posture completely stiff, she finally spoke up in the probably the most serious voice I'd ever heard from her. "In the 80's, coke was all the rage. The 90's, grunge."

My eyes went wide, eyebrows shot up in disbelief, as she turned to face all three of us. No. Flippin'. Way.

"Now, it's the era of vampires. …It's just super trendy."

Godric looked incredibly confused, but I almost broke out laughing at the look of pure 'WTF' that had slipped onto Eric's face.

"What?" He said, almost looking like he wanted to slam his head against a brick wall.

"Think about it Eric. Can you honestly tell me that people haven't been slowly but surely obsessing with vampires?" She questioned. When he didn't say anything other than raise an eyebrow even higher as she started pacing.

"Countless years. Decades. Mythes, legends, plays, books, and now even movies. This has been something in the making before anybody could even imagine it would come to pass. Something like this. Even with the theoretical knowledge of your powers, the strength you possess, the possibility of death, people love you all the same. They fawn over the idea of a creature so powerful. Dracula, Anne Rice, Bram Stroker, the Underworld Trilogy, Queen of the Damned, children dressing up like one of you for Halloween."

She looked at them then and even I could tell they were beyond confused but trying to take this all in.

"I could go on naming things for days, if not weeks. People may not admit it, but there are some very sick twisted freaks out there. Hell, there are people that pretend to live their lives like so called 'vampires' because they are so obsessed with the idea of you. And now, with the turn of events, with books like the House of Night Series and even Twilight falling into every teen's hands. You couldn't find more people coming together and agreeing on a single thing since probably the last world war. Swarms of people band together for this, hoards, basically cults at times."

Godric finally seemed to have remembered the bottle in his hand then. "And this would be…?"

"Product placement, of course." She said, finally stopping to turn to face us for sure this time around. "It's business. For as long as both of you have been around, I'm sure you noticed random and crazy things popping up here and there. And if pretending to be vampires, drinking blood, "she motioned to the bottle, "helps people do that, then somebody will be sure to profit from such an idea. After all, you can buy fake fangs, why not fake blood. Like I said… it's just super trendy."

I didn't know whether to stand up and hit her for saying that, I mean actually saying that, or laughing, or just staring wide eyed at the fact that it looked like they were actually buying this bullshit.

"So… this is…"

"Wouldn't that make…"

"That would explain the taste."

"Why it's made to look like this as well."

Oh my god. She… she did it. I can't believe it. They… they bought it. I tried to hold back the smile that wanted to slide onto my face, but the fact that incredibly relieved laughter was barely held back behind that wasn't helping. She did it! Jesus Christ! This girl could probably end up as a motivational speaker if she kept this up!

"So… does that answer your question?" She sighed, sounding almost like she had just told them the most simplest of things, but I recognized that smug look in her eyes.

"I… suppose?

Poor Godric. Honestly. The guy looked like somebody had just told him that the world was actually made of one giant Twinkie and he hadn't actually been drinking human blood for two thousand plus years, but fruit punch flavored Kool-Aid. I couldn't blame him for looking like he wanted to scream while simultaneously bashing his head against a brick wall. Eric, too.

"So, I guess that… No." Eric suddenly stopped and I swear that so did my heart as his eyes narrowed dangerously. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

Ahh! We both flinched away from the offensively loud noise. Shit. Angry. Loud. Oh my god loud! Loud and scary!

"What the… WHAT?" I couldn't tell if he was more parts angry or confused, but as soon as he stood up and headed towards Alex, I didn't really care anymore. Thankfully Godric was suddenly there with a hand on his shoulder and very pointed look. At least he would never go against him.

Okay. So maybe they didn't buy it. Fucking Alex.

Godric sat down again, still somehow retaining this weird calm composure while Eric stayed standing, eyeing us like dead meat and glaring in clear frustration.

"Explain. Now." He glared, practically snarled really.

"Young one?"

I finally looked up and ended up catching Godric's gaze since he was closest to me. Here goes nothing.

"The truth is you don't exist."

"That's it? I thought we already went over this."

I looked over to find Eric looking very unimpressed and uninterested with hi signature eyebrow raised in annoyance.

"What? No. I mean, yes that, but this is different. It's…"

"Fuck this. I'm leaving."

"Eric. You can't just leave." Godric said, once again suddenly before him.

"Oh, I beg to differ."

"If you would only just listen to me…" I tried again.

"I think not." He finished before looking to Godric as if he'd ended the conversation. "Godric. I know what I said before, but I believe it's time to leave. They obviously can't help us or know as much as you think they did so why don't we…"

What? No! They couldn't leave! This isn't how this is supposed to happen. Think Arianna, think. You have to make them listen.

"You know, a few years ago, this lady named Charlaine Harris wrote a book. It was basically called something along the lines of Southern Vampires Stories, but most people know them as The Sookie Stackhouse Books."

Their heads both turned to look at me as soon as it left my mouth, shock written all over their face.

"It was kinda interesting, you know. Unlike a lot of other vampire books like Dracula and whatnot, it all took place in the South. In Louisiana really, well, Bon Temps to be exact. It's the story of this girl named Sookie Stackhouse. Two years ago, before the beginning of the books in a sense, vampires decide to 'come out of the coffin' and try to become part of society. This nifty drink called Tru Blood was said to have everything vampires needed to survive without killing in secret anymore. At least that's everything Nan Flanagan always says on her little talk shows or commentaries or little battles with Steve Newlin."

"Hey, aren't you forgetting everything that happened in the first book. Maybe we could just call it Season 1 of the show, too." Alex put in, finally trying to help tell the 'story' for them, after somehow using Eric's attention on me to move around him and back to the couch. She then looked at them. "Did I mention this director guy named Allan Ball decided to turn this into a show about three & a half years back?"

I don't think I could've ever pictured these two so in shock before, so I just went on.

"That's right, so in the first one, let's see. Sookie being the helpful girl she is, saves Bill from a couple of drainers, they end up going out once sorta, and while she's trying to clear her brother, Jason's name as a murderer, she ends up taking a little trip. You still remember the first time you saw her, Eric, right? Pretty, blonde, hair back, white dress, red flowers, feisty remarks, smelling innocent…warning you about the guy in the cap being an undercover cop and proving it by telling you there was a vampire in the bathroom feeding on the guy you'd just kicked."

Alex decided to take over for a bit then and I let her gladly.

"What about after all that crap about the murder and Sookie managing to behead him with a shovel before he was able to strangle her to death? What about kidnapping Lafayette? You remember that, right? Kidnapping him and a couple other people because they'd been caught selling V and locking in a dungeon, I mean, Fangtasia's basement must've sucked. Well, at least that's what I think after that one redneck thought he could make it out and silvered you in the face with that huge crucifix of his. I'm not gonna lie, the idiot had it coming pulling a move like that. If it makes you feel any better, I was rooting for you the whole time you were biting and ripping and dismembering the retard."

I elbowed her then. They didn't need her gushing about her favorite vicious Eric moments right now.

"I know, I know. Oh, and Godric?"

He kept staring in shock, trying to take everything in for a second, before finally concentrating on her.

"Yes?"

"Ever consider growing your hair out again? You looked pretty hot with those dreads a thousand years ago, even if you were cruel, merciless, and called yourself Death."

I blanked as she said that. Was she crazy? Then again, it didn't really look like he minded. He looked almost smug at the 'compliment' and so did Eric.

"Alex!" I elbowed her again. That was so not something to be saying right now.

"What? Don't give me that look." she smirked at me suddenly. "I know you were thinking the exact same thing, even after he'd literally just slaughtered those guys."

My eyes went wide as I notice Eric smirk my way and Godric stare at me. I looked down, staring at the floor, blushing like crazy. Sure, there are probably hundreds of other girls who thought the same thing, but you didn't have to actually admit it, especially not to HIM! Please! Couch, eat me now.

"That's it?" Eric asked a few minutes later, still looking a bit shaken.

"As in, all we know? Well, no. Not really, no." Alex answered. "There's loads more, but based on what you said was happening, it'd be like telling you the future. That can wait."

"Are you guys… okay?" I asked, no, I prayed. "I mean, it's okay if you're not, just please don't break my house up any further!"

"Okay?" Eric questioned in a rather creepily way. "Why wouldn't we be? After all, you only told me that not only to I not exist, but that I'm a fictional character. I'm… just… peachy.

Alex scooted towards me then as she eyed Eric wearily. I couldn't blame her. Eric Northman had just said he was 'peachy'. Dear god…he's going to kill us!

"Eric…you're freakin me out. Cut it out…please." she muttered timidly.

"Maybe this wasn't the greatest thing to do. I'm sorry if…"

"No." Godric stated sternly. He still didn't quite look like himself, but at least he wasn't freaking out like Eric was beginning to. "We will be… fine. Thank you for what you… shared with us, for telling us… the truth."

He then stood up and grabbed Eric by the shoulder before practically ushering him toward the door. "We shall be back before dawn." he muttered slightly and then they were gone.

Maybe it was the tense way in which his jaw was set right before leaving, or the clipped tone, perhaps even the narrowed gaze. I'm not really sure what it was, but I was just extremely happy that we wouldn't have to witness anything serious. Let's hope they still don't want to kill us when they get back.

REVIEW! :D

p.s. The speech was partly inspired by Vampires Suck (It's an awesome/hilarious movie. Watch it). Also, not the biggest fan of Twilight, but, hey, it worked here. As far as The House of Night Novels Series, I do suggest you guys give them a try if you ever get the chance. It's all basically vampire themed, but centered around the more personal perspective of a teen going through everything. I gotta say that as far as the typical vampire book, this is completely different, a whole new approach to the subject, but I thought it was totally worth it. It keeps true to most of the fundamental rules and traits of vampires like drinking blood, sleeping during daytime, etc., but the drama and plot that goes with it is something I've never read before. I found it rather addicting though. lol