Chapter 04: Louisiana

 We were to spend three weeks in Louisiana. Hitting all parts north, south, east, and west, making sure we hit Shreveport last.

I thought about ‘her’ the whole leg of this journey and I thought for sure I felt ‘her’ at two of my rallies.   If she wasn’t there she was damn close.

But when I went to look for ‘her’ she was gone very quickly.   I let Willa know to keep an eye out for ‘her’ and let me know if she saw anything.

Willa just chuckled at me and called me smitten.  I was far from smitten, I was still in love and that was never going to change even if one of us died.

Our last week in Louisiana was spent in the northwest, Shreveport to be exact.  I did not feel ‘her’ while I was there.  In fact I felt nothing.

I couldn’t get to Bon Temps quick enough.

There was something wrong with the bond we still held between us.  I needed to find out the cause.

So Willa set up a side trip for us to go to Jessica’s.

When we arrived I was greeted by all our old acquaintances; Jessica, James, Keith, Lafayette, Jason and Adilyn.

I was surprised to see the little fairy but I was told that she ended up marrying Jason years after that cunt Violet was ended. But it took some time for Jason’s marriage to Bridgette to fall apart, yet before it did they had produced three young’uns’ whom the two of them had raised together along with their own four offspring.

It seems that Jason was aging gracefully from being part Fae and having had copious amount of Violet’s blood prior to his marriages, this served his aging process very well and of course Adilyn was half Fae and would age slowly as it was.

However, to look at them now you would think Jason was just now hitting his fifties and Adilyn her early thirties.

It seemed that the younger vampires whom had been around the little Fae long enough grew tempered to her sweet scent, even Jessica had overcome her impulses to it.

As for Lafayette, well that boy made a damn good looking vampire. I have always admired him even when he pissed me off.

No one mentioned ‘her’ to me and I wondered why?  I never pushed it but I needed to go see if she was home.

As Willa was catching up with her old friends I made my way around the property.  I waved at a few of the reporters and they waved back but none approached me as they were told we were visiting with old friends.

As I walked I looked around at the grounds and realized there were additional houses built on Compton’s property. I wondered why?

But as I went through the cemetery I was drawn to ‘her’ gran’s gravestone.  Only to realize that right next to it was a gravestone for ‘her’. It said she died twenty years earlier.

I kneeled down and weep.   I knew the bond could not lie to me, I know I had felt ‘her’.  But here was proof that she was gone.

Why hadn’t anyone told me she was truly gone?

Why was I the last to know?

What the fuck happened… I would have protected her; she had to have known that.

Fuck it all to Hell.

“Mister whats’ wron wit’ ya? Whys ya cryn’ over my gran’s grave?”

I looked up and saw a cute little blonde girl standing next to me.  She was identical to ‘her’ in every way.     I had to look twice not knowing how she snuck up on me nor how she looked like a miniature ‘her’.

I wiped my face with my hand and rubbed the soft grass to clean it off; I didn’t want the child to be grossed out by my bloody tears.

“I am sorry, I was coming to visit your gran and found her headstone instead.   I am just sad that she is gone is all.”

“Ho’d ya know her?”

“We knew each other a long time ago. I would have married her if she would have accepted me.”

“Ohhh, yous’ him.  Hold on a sec.”

She looked at me like she was concentrating hard and the next thing I knew Niall was standing by the girl.

I nodded with respect and told him not to pop again since there were reporters about.

He nodded back.

Before either of us could say anything, the little girl spoke up.

“Grandpa whys’ he cryn’ over gran?”

“He does not know child.”

Know what????????

“Oh he no a telpat’ so he cants reads my mind, right.”

WHAT????

“Yes my child.”

OH fuck another one, dammit Sookie you should have told me there was more.

“Niall, what is she speaking about?”

“Oh that’s right you don’t know since you left her years ago.”

“Old man, do not speak riddles, Sookie chose and it was not me.  I left her to her normal life, the life she wanted. I was not included in that life.”

“Oh but vampire you were included in her heart, a heart that has never forgotten.”

I was gobsmacked.   She loved me still after we parted.  Why didn’t she call me?  I knew why, the same reason I never called her.

PRIDE

“She still mourns you.”

“Why… why the grave… is she dead?”

“No vampire that is a story for her to tell.”

“Tell me one thing and I will leave you alone,” with a nod from Niall, I worded my one thing very carefully and with multiple facets, “If she is still alive then why does no-one speak of ‘her’ and where is she, I cannot feel her right now but I know I have in the past, the only thing I can figure out is she can pop after all this time and that is how she got away from me again”…. I was rambling and Niall and the little one started to laugh, “But if she pops that means she is more Fae than I remember, why are you here Niall, where is the girl’s mother or father?  How many telepaths are there now? Are they safe?  Oh for the love of the gods answer me old man.”

“How can one answer when one still speaks?”

I looked at him and wanted to curse but I held my tongue.

“Come walk with us, it is safer once we cross onto Stackhouse/Brigant property to speak openly.”

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