Chapter 1: Alright

We are young, we run free,
Keep our teeth, nice and clean,
See our friends, see the sights, feel alright.
Are we like you?
I can't be sure.
(Supergrass)

'Vampire related crime has increased by 32% in the last year alone. You can't sit there and tell me that your kind aren't responsible for-"

"We are no less responsible than your race. You can't seriously be saying that in the case of V dealing, or vampire-draining that vampires are the ones to blame. That supposed '32% increase'-"

"There's nothing 'supposed' about it. These are the facts. Vampires are murderers; they are evil, unholy killers and no sane person should feel safe while they are free to roam our streets and feed on our children."

"Uh, thank-you Minister Newlin, Ms. Flannigan. I think that will do for tonight. Vampires: are they making us feel unsafe on our own streets? Tonight's poll shows that a majority of our viewers think 'YES'. You can have your say on our website, but more on that tomorrow night. Thanks for joining us. Good night and, uh, ha-ha, take care."

"Johnny. Joh- Johnny!"

"What?"

"Stop. I don't want to do that. I already told you."

"Aw, come on. This is, what, like our seventh date?"

"Second."

"What? I'm pre-eetty sure we've been on more than two."

"Those other times were just at your house, and all we did was watch reruns of The Simpsons."

"They still count."

"Just stop, alright. I just wanna ha- What was that?"

"What?"

"It sounded like hissing or something. Like someone lighting a match."

"Stop tryin' to change the subject. Come back over here."

"I'm not kidding! Did you hear it?"

"Alright, I get it. We're leavin'. I'll drop you home."

"What? Why? Just 'cause I don't wanna have sex with you? You're such an asshole!"

"No, it's because you're actin' crazy. Like a crazy fuckin' bitch."

"Gahh…He's right, you know. You are acting like a crazy bitch."

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm Felix. She was right about the noise. Good ears. I hate using lighters. I find that matches make the cigarettes taste so much better."

"What do you want?"

"Me? Oh, I'm just lookin' for a little pick-me-up. So…who's first?"

The weather in Arkansas was a little warmer than it had been in Bon Temps, when Persephone had left. Not that temperature really matters when you're a vampire, but she thought it called for a wardrobe adjustment; humidity and jeans don't really go together, after all. She strolled up a dirt path towards a motel, wearing a white sundress that reached just above her knees, and feeling more content than she had been able to for weeks. She had left Felix alone at her house, which he had decided he would be permanently sharing with her, feeling as though he was 'mature' enough to look after himself for a few hours.
The motel she now approached wasn't exactly a five-star resort, but it was probably the best someone could do when they were on an impromptu trip, such as Sam was.

She got to the door of room 12 and knocked three times.

"Yeah?" a voice called from inside.

"Room service!"

"Uh, hang on."

She chuckled and leant against the door frame while she waited for him to remove the chain from the door.

"I didn't order any-" He shook his head when he saw who it was, hiding his delight.

"Need anything serviced?" Persephone joked.

"Come on in," Sam smiled, jerking his head towards the small room.

"How goes the search?" Persephone asked, shutting the door behind her. Having been adopted into the Merlotte family, Sam had never known his real parents. Recent events had ignited his curiosity about his genetic origins, and he was now doing his best to follow the few clues he had to the whereabouts of his blood-kin.

"Doin' better than I thought I'd be. The Merlotte's – well, my adoptive father – gave me an address for a place not far from here. Last known place they were stayin'. Now I just gotta make sure they're still there. But with my luck lately, well…"

His so-called 'luck' in the past few weeks had involved a number of the waitresses from his bar being murdered because of their vampire-involved sexual preferences, and then a re-acquaintance with a maenad who'd had her mind set on sacrificing him to an ancient god. As you can see, he survived all this, but after what he had been through he thought it wouldn't be out of the question for his birth family to be Cyclopes, or cannibals or gangly green goblins living under a bridge. What with his luck.

"I'm willing to bet that your luck is going to pick up from now on. All that other stuff is behind you."

"Yeah, let's hope so." He sat back on his bed with his hands behind his head, and stretched, heaving a sigh. "If I hear anything from these people I called today, I'll probably be on my way to see my folks either tomorrow or the day after that."

Persephone lay down next to him and he began to wonder if she remembered her real family. Deciding it might ruin her good mood if he were to ask, he settled for something that didn't require a lot of talking.

"Come here," he said, wrapping his arm beneath her and pulling her onto him. As she gazed down at him, he couldn't help but thank whatever god was out there for the fact that she had chosen to come back.

"You fed from humans!"

"What? No."

"Felix, I can tell. Don't you lie to me."

"Yes, mom."

On Persephone's return to Bon Temps, that same night, she had discovered Felix standing on her porch, having some 'down time'; which basically, for a vampire, involves standing still in one spot for long periods of time. As Felix's maker, Persephone could feel certain things about him, not unlike when a human had ingested her blood; but the dead giveaway (excuse the pun), had been the mass of blood spilt down the front of his shirt. The smell was most certainly human.

"I stocked the fridge specifically with O-positive for you. Can I not leave the house for a few hours without you running off and ripping out someone's throat?"

"Pers, you're nagging. I didn't kill them, alright? I fed on them, and then I glamoured them. They won't remember a thing."

Felix smiled proudly, believing that he had covered up his tracks well enough this time to not receive any more badgering from his maker. She stared at him, and then asked:

"Did you heal the wounds on their neck?"

His smug grin fell. Whoops.

"Uh…"

She gave him a stern frown and pointed towards the front door.

"Move. God forbid, I may have to lock you up of a night."

Persephone found that an easier solution to keeping tabs on Felix's impulses was to simply keep him by her side at all times. He didn't exactly dislike the idea, but he knew it was going to be a long time before he fed straight from the vein. Now, entering Merlotte's, she was greeted by a welcoming voice.

"Well, hey Persy! Wasn't espectin' to see you in here; not with Sam off doin' whatever it is that boy does."

"Lafayette," she smiled, "This is Felix."

"I'm her son," Felix said with mock-sincerity.

Both Persephone and Lafayette looked at him with raised eyebrows, their eyes following him as he moved off towards an empty booth. Lafayette narrowed his eyes, as though trying to consider the logic in Felix's statement. When he glanced back at Persephone he found that she had already taken a seat in front of the bar, behind which he was currently standing, and that she wasn't fazed in the least by what Felix had said.

"So, what have I missed?" she asked him, as though she had wandered off from her favorite TV show.

Lafayette tossed back a shot of tequila that he had been holding. Judging by his expression, Persephone had indeed missed something crucial.

" 'Member Tara's boyfrien'? Eggs? Well, he gone got himself shot dead las' night, by Andy Bellefluer."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'. Tara's a motherfuckin' mess and I's had to leave her with her mama, that's how much I need the money from this job, 'cause otherwise I would not let that booze-soaked preachin' bitch anywhere nears my cousin. And here's another piece o' information probably more interestin', seein' as us humans' problems is as interestin' as ants to ya'll -"

"Not true, but go on."

"Sookie came by earlier sayin' Bill's gone and disappeared. From my very limited knowledge of vampires, it seems like ya'll like keepin' track o' one another, so I thought you'd like to know. It ain't that bad is it?" he added, when he saw her expression change dramatically at this piece of news.

Lafayette was a good source for gossip, but in this case his information appeared to actually be of some genuine interest to her. In her silence, she was thinking back to that call from Stan, the one that had set the ball rolling for catastrophe: 'Godric's gone missing.'

"Hmm…How've have you been?"

He raised his eyebrow once more, this time at her avoidance of the question, but didn't press her.

"Okay, I suppose. People gettin' shot and goin' missin' and whatnot; the living can't really complain, right?"

"I guess not. Mind if I grab a bottle of O-positive and B-negative?"

While Lafayette warmed the two bottles in the microwave, Persy observe the people around the room. Felix was doing the same from his seat in the booth, though hopefully not in search of his next target. Arlene was taking orders from the few occupied tables, but Sookie was nowhere to be seen, more than likely having a little break after everything she had been exposed to lately. And now with Bill going missing… Persy made a mental note to investigate this occurrence further.

Carrying the two blood beverages, she took a seat across from her progeny and passed him the O-positive. He stared down at the bottle as though she were offering him a plate of salad.

"I don't know how you live on this stuff," he said, touching the bottle briefly to his lips. He grimaced and put it down. "Unless that shifter let's you bite him. Nah, he seemed too much of a square to be into something like that."

"Sam's not as, uh, 'square' as you put it, as you would think."

"Bedroom doesn't count. Everyone's different when it comes to sex. See that guy over by the pool table? The real greasy-looking one that keeps giving the waitresses sleazy looks? I'd bet you a run in the sunlight that he's into men."

Persephone glanced over at the man, whom she'd seen in the bar a few times before, once with his wife (who was just as greasy-looking); Felix was probably right about him.

"Why a shifter, anyway? Aren't vampires supposed to not like them? 'Cause they're, like, lower in the supernatural food chain or whatever?"

"I've never been with a shifter before Sam. They're very…passionate."

"Fun."

"You betcha," she said, using her best American-style response, throwing in a sly smile for good measure.

"Your friend, that queer black guy," Felix began, in a casually un-PC kind of way, "He really seems to dig vampires."

"Why do you say that?" Persephone asked, taking her first sip of the B-negative.

"Because there's a blonde one talking to him out in the kitchen right now."

"What?"

Persephone flicked her head around and found the 'blonde one' Felix was talking about, was Pam. How had she missed that?

Quick as a flash she was in the kitchen, careful not to startle anyone along the way. Her fangs were itching to pop out, but she kept them retracted, preferring to find out what Pam was doing there, (though she was sure she knew), than to start an unnecessary conflict. Pam was in the process of passing Lafayette a few vials of vampire blood, which he was expected to sell for Eric. Before either of them could even realize they had been joined by a third party, Persephone grabbed the vials and smashed them in the sink.

"Oh, shit," Lafayette said, backing off a couple of steps as Pam's fangs appeared.

"He's done with that," Persephone told Pam, who sneered. As if she needed more of a reason to hate Persephone.

"Perhaps you would like to tell that to Eric. I'm sure he'd be so understanding of your opinion."

Persephone was by no means in the mood for Pam's attitude, but for the first time she saw something that actually resembled feeling in the woman's eyes; there was something more to this ploy, something Eric had never mentioned.

"Let's talk. Sam's office is free."

Pam's face twitched as though she were holding back another scowl, but whatever problems she and Eric were having, they were big enough to motivate her into following Persephone down the hall.

Persephone closed the door behind them, both completely forgetting Lafayette, who was still in the kitchen frozen with mild shock.

"What's this all about? Eric's got humans selling V for him now?"

"It's bad," Pam replied. Though she and Persephone were renowned for not getting along, Pam knew that Eric trusted her with his life; therefore, it was probably safe to divulge certain information to her. "We don't really have a choice in this."

"I figured that."

Pam raised an eyebrow, as usual not impressed by Persephone's foreknowledge.
"It's Sophie-Anne"

Sophie-Anne was the vampire queen of Louisiana, and also very, very egotistical. Unlike human royalty, vampire kings and queens weren't born into their position; usually they were simply selected based on a number of factors, like age, influence and knowledge. Sophie-Anne lived in a palace in New Orleans, and was well known for her hedonistic lifestyle. Persephone was fortunate to have met her only once. One time was enough for anyone.

"Why is she doing it? Surely she has enough money as it is."

"You'd think so, but no. Since vampires had to start paying taxes, she's run herself into the ground. No pun intended. She's selling her blood as a last ditch effort to stay afloat. She even had the nerve to tell Eric to sell the club and all his property just so she can keep living the way she wants to."

"What?" Persephone half-gasped. She knew the queen was selfish, but this was beyond low.

"Like I said, we don't have much of a choice. She came by with the Magistor last night; he's investigating the selling of vampire blood in our area. The bitch basically told Eric that she would be more than happy to pin it on us if we can't come up with the money she needs."

Persephone tried to let the gravity of this sink in. She took a seat on Sam's desk and then began to consider something that she had only thought about a couple of times before.

"So, thanks for the help, but I should be going now," Pam said, heading for the door.

"Wait."

She turned around and saw the seriousness on the other vampire's face. Persephone seemed genuinely determined to get them out of their current predicament. Pam listened, her expression half-skeptical, as Persephone revealed a fairly in depth plan detailing what she planned to do to help them. When she had finished, Pam stared at her in disbelief.

"I know I act like I hate you, because I do. And I feel like I should thank you somehow, but I'm not going to. But if you can pull this off…"

"I know. Don't tell Eric. Not yet."

Pam nodded and then left. Perhaps she had greatly underestimated Persephone's worth.

Sam was having better luck than he had expected. Sort of.

He had discovered not only his birthparents, Joe-Lee and Melinda Mickens, but also a brother, Tommy…who had just tried to get him killed. Both his mother and his brother were shifters, but his father was normal (if that's how you'd describe him). So not exactly gangly green goblins, but they weren't perfect either. But then, who is?

After grabbing his clothes from the front yard of the Mickens' rundown home and hurriedly pulling them back on, Sam burst through their front door, surprising his younger brother and father, who were seated watching TV. In less than 24-hours of knowing him, Tommy had already tried to get Sam out of his life. It had been an indirect approach, tricking Sam into running in front of a car in his dog form, and it had failed to work.

"Oh, well hi, Sam. Wasn't expecting you to be back so soon. Tommy said you left," Joe-Lee told him, dressed only in a pair of tighty-whities. Oh yeah; the Mickens were pure class.

"I'll go get your mama," he added, leaving the two brothers alone for a moment.

Sam's polite expression left as soon as his father did. He shot Tommy a dark look.
"I don't appreciate you trying to get me killed."

Tommy gave a huff and redirected his attention to the television set.
"Well, I don't appreciate you coming into my house like you belong here."

Both of their parents reappeared, Melinda carrying a few blankets as though she was expecting Sam to stay over for the night. After what had just happened with Tommy, he wasn't feeling so welcome anymore.

"No need for those," he explained, resuming his polite façade, "I'll be headin' back to Bon Temps tonight."

"What, now?" she asked. It was close to midnight and Bon Temps was a couple of hours drive away. Thirty-four years of separation or not, she didn't want any son of hers driving interstate in the pitch dark.

"Yeah, well, I got my life back there, just like you got your life here," Sam said, "Plus I don't want to intrude anymore than I already have."
He caught Tommy give a silent snort at his last few words.

His parents stood in an awkward silence, unsure of what to say to that. Luckily, they were saved from having to come up with any sort of reply, by a sudden knock on the door. For the second time that evening, Joe-Lee looked surprised. Melinda, however, looked cautious; Sam was the only visitor they had gotten in a long time, and all those before him had been either police or debt-collectors.

Joe-Lee scratched his head as Tommy grabbed a shotgun and approached the door with the same amount of caution as his mother.

"Who the hell would be callin' by at this time of night?"