Things moved very quickly for Tara, after she married Alcide Herveaux, in front of a Justice of the Peace, two days later after that ‘incident’ at the Edgington estate.

    First, Sookie and Bill threw them both a reception at Sookie’s place, a week after the ceremony. Next, Alcide found them a nice, but temporary, home to live in, until another wolf community could be formed(to be honest, Tara could give a fuck about living in a ‘wolf community’ but kept her mouth shut on the matter). Third, even though the next full moon was next month, Tara and Alcide did plenty of fucking in between.

    Oh...and Sam had had the goddamned nerve to not only show up at Tara’s wedding reception, but he brought a date! Some shifter bitch who liked to change into a horse and go running with Sam! Tara thought the heifer said she was a teacher or something...

    At that moment it was the afternoon of the night she and LaFayette, were going to spell the rings that were going to be given to Russell, Eric, Bill, Pam and Jessica.  Tara didn’t mind Jessica, but none of the others deserved to walk out into the sunlight, as far as she was concerned.

    She was at a fancy dress store with Sookie, who would be at the ring ceremony as well. Sookie’s happiness was the only thing that was keeping her from vomiting at the thought, of empowering any vampire to walk around in the sun.

    “What do you think?” Sookie asked, holding up an emerald, strapless number.

    “I don’t think green is your color.”

    “I was thinking for you.” Sookie said, setting aside the dress. “Tara, your mind is not on dress shopping! Tonight is an important event.”

    “To you, Sook. Not me.”

    Sookie peered at her.

    “That isn’t what’s bothering you. You’ve been in a bad mood ever since your reception.”

    Tara said nothing.

    “Sam’s new girfriend’s name is Luna.” Sookie said knowingly.

    “The fuck do I care!”

    “Oh my God, Tara! You’re the one that chose not to forgive Sam! Now you’ve married Alcide and you’re pissed off! Does Alcide know?”

    “That I’m pissed off? No. I can’t be mad at Alcide anyway,” Tara sighed, “I mean he’s either sucking on one of my tits or feeling them up. And that’s when he’s not fucking me to west hell and back.”

    “Well if it’s too much...”

    “Oh, I’m not complaining!” Tara coughed. “But I just wonder why a pregnancy would only take on a full moon? The way we’ve been going at it, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was pregnant already!”

    Sookie touched her hand.

    “Then let Sam go.”

    “Sookie, I just didn’t appreciate him throwing this woman in my face! And then they shifted into horses, knowing I was watching from a window! It was like Sam was throwing it in my face that I had a hard time with his shifting.”

    “I think he just couldn’t understand you giving a wolf a chance and not him.”

    Tara shrugged.

    “It wasn’t just the shifting. And Sam always seemed to forget that. And it sounds like you have too.”

    “I haven’t forgotten that he was a spy, Tara. But I don’t think he meant any harm to come to any of us.”

    “Well a lot of harm came to Alcide’s people. Look, you’re right. I just have to learn to let this go.”Tara said, taking the dress from her. It was kind of cute. Maybe with her hair up and the right type of jewelry, it would be the perfect thing to wear to tonight’s ring ceremony.

                                                          ****

    Sookie had driven on their shopping trip, so Tara waved to her then went inside her home, ran upstairs and just barely made it in time to puke into the toilet! That little pregnancy quip she had made at the dress shop was not off the cuff. What was wrong with her? It couldn’t be nerves, could it? She’d been unwell since yesterday.

    It was nerves. Had to be. Yeah, that’s exactly what it was! And what was probably getting on her last one, was the idea of helping Russell, Eric or any vampire, run loose during the day. If there was anyway out of this, Tara would take it.

    Meanwhile, Luna watched Tara’s house with a pair of binoculars from her car. Sam was sitting next to her. Sam, unfortunately, was even more knee deep into the government. Luna and Sam were now ‘Spy Shifters’.

    Sam would’ve never agreed to it, if he hadn’t been convinced that Alcide Herveaux had somehow involved Tara in that FoxPoint Bay Massacre.  And the only reason Tara had up and married Herveaux, was because she was still pissed off at him.

    Luna lowered her binoculars and glanced over at Sam.

    “Are you going to be able to do this?” she asked.

    “We don’t have any choice. Tara can’t allow vamps to be walking around during the day. Let’s just get this over with.” he said, taking out his stun gun. Luna pulled out a real one.

    “What the fuck do you plan to do with that?” Sam asked, eyeing the weapon.

    “Your precious Tara is a witch! She could do anything to us! I can’t take the chance.”

    “The stun gun will work, trust me.”

    “I do, Sam. But in case you let emotions rule instead of common sense...”

    Sam got out the car. He was wearing a suit. Luna followed. She was also wearing a pantsuit. They hurried across the street and over to the Herveaux home. They knew that Tara wouldn’t open the door to the both of them, considering how badly she treated them at her wedding reception. Sam looked around, then eased around the side of the house towards some terrace doors. Luna jiggled the front door lock a bit, then moved around to a window.

    Inside, Tara, who had now finished puking, was about to lay down on the bed to rest, when a noise from below made her sit up! Was Alcide home? It was early and she knew he had said something about a big concrete job or something...

    Tara slowly stood up and listened. No. Someone was in this damned house and their feet didn’t sound like Alcide’s! She walked out of the bedroom, down the hallway and got to the landing when...

    That damned horse woman that Sam was dating, was hurrying up the stairs carrying a gun! Tara froze her, then slowly began walking around her, down the stairs, just as another sound from the dining room got her attention! What the hell was Sam’s fuck buddy doing in her house???

    Sam suddenly appeared.

    “Sam? What is this horse whore doing here? What’s going on and what is that in your hand?”

    Sam slowly revealed the stun gun.

    “Tara, I can’t let you make rings for vamps. You know it’s not right.”

    Tara peered at him, then looked up and behind her at horse whore. She then turned back to him.

    “She was coming to stop me too?”

    “We both work for the government.”

    “Damn, Sam! You’re still a government stooge?! Get out of here before you get hurt, you hear me? Get out!”

    Sam made a move towards her and Tara froze him as well! Damn! She had to get out of here and find Alcide! They were probably all in danger of getting picked up before tonight!

    Tara hurried past Sam and whipped open the door, only to find herself face to face with a man that looked eerily like Franklin Mott! Tara screamed and tried to slam the door, but Special Agent James Mott, threw his weight against it, flinging Tara backwards! She got up to run, but Agent Mott used his own stun gun against the side of her neck. Soon, she was limp.

    Luna and Sam came out of their freezes and saw that Special Agent Mott had Tara.

    “Somehow I knew you two wouldn’t be able to handle her,” Mott said wryly. “I’m taking her back to headquarters. The werewolf is still at work for couple of more hours. You know what to do?” Mott asked Luna, who shifted into Tara. Sam gave her an uneasy look. but said nothing.

    “Good. When you say the spell with LaFayette Reynolds, it won’t work. You’ll be long gone before the sun comes up again and Edgington, Northman and any other vamps Mrs. Herveaux was going to do this for, discovers how badly they’ve been duped.” Agent Mott revealed, reaching down to pick Tara up.

    But Sam moved between them.
   
    “I’ll pick her up. Let’s just get this whole thing over with.” Sam said stoutly, picking Tara up and carrying her out of the house. Luna folded her arms.

    “You know why he didn’t want you touching her, right?” Luna asked.

    “I know,” Special Agent Mott said, “but I have no intention of allowing any trauma Mrs. Herveaux may have had, at the hands of some long distant, vamp relative of mine, to get in my way in getting answers out of her. While your posing as Tara this evening, I’ll be interrogating her myself.”

                                                           ****

    Alcide didn’t know what to think when he got home.

    ‘Tara’ had fixed him a nice dinner. Tara could cook well enough, but not this well.

    Tara smelled different too. He couldn’t quite grasp what he was seeing and feeling.

    He decided there was just one way to find out. As Tara was putting on a green, evening dress, Alcide came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

    “We’ve got a little time before we head over to Russell’s.” he murmured, kissing the back of her neck.

    “Alcide, I don’t want to mess up this dress.”

    “You won’t be wearing the dress, darlin’, so you won’t mess it up.” Alcide panted, unzipping the garment and letting it drop to the floor.

    TEN MINUTES LATER

    Luna could not believe she had been forced to fuck this werewolf before the mission was over! Hell, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t been with any before, her ex was one. But still, it felt like prostitution or something. And she sure as hell didn’t want Sam to know! She actually kind of liked him. If only he could get over Tara.

    The clicking of a gun suddenly brought her into there here and now! She had been lying there on the bed and Alcide had SAID he was going to take a shower. Now here he was back, pointing a gun down at her! Whoever the fuck this was, her fucking skills were subpar compared to Tara’s!

    “Who are you, bitch?” Alcide asked coolly. “I know you’re a shifter of sorts.”

    Luna shifted back into herself and Alcide raised a brow.

    “Where do I know you from?”

    Luna got up off the bed, naked, her hands up.

    “I was at your wedding reception. I came with Sam Merlotte. Look...”

    “What the hell are you doing here?! Where is my wife?”

    “I work for the government. And with Sam Merlotte. This vamp ring ceremony isn’t going down tonight.”

    “You think I like this shit?! Tara doesn’t have a choice! And...” he suddenly stopped talking. He could now tell what the plan was supposed to be. And it just made him his cock his gun at her.

    “What the fuck was going to happen to Tara, when Edgington and Northman realized those rings didn’t work? She’d have been killed!”

    “Tara is in a detention center now! She’d be safe!”

    “Tara is in a detention center NOW?!”

    “Yes,” Luna bit out, “but it’s for her own protection. Russell Edgington and Eric Northman will be killed once they try and use the rings.”

    “Are you for fucking real?! All they’ll have to do is run back inside for cover someplace!”

    Luna took a deep breath.

    “That’s where maybe you can help.”

    “Nope!” Alcide snapped, grabbing Luna’s hair, “What I’m going to do is take you to Edgington and tell him we have a problem!”

    Suddenly, Luna shifted into a kangaroo and kicked Alcide in the stomach, causing him to lurch back in pain! Luna then hopped at a rapid rate out of the room, down the stairs and the hell out of the house! The mission was fucked up now and she had to let Special Agent Mott and Sam know about it!

    Meanwhile, Alcide struggled to pull his phone out of his pocket, while wishing that his healing would speed up! Ruby Jean answered.

    “You alright?” Ruby Jean asked.

    “You knew I was hurt?”

    “I had a vision of some kind of camel or something...”

    “It was a fucking kangaroo, Ruby Jean! Don’t you never watch National Geographic?”

    “I was crazy for years! When the hell would I have had time to watch that! What’s happened?”

    “The government has Tara, no thanks to Merlotte and some shifter bitch he’s been fucking! One of the shifters changed into Tara with the intention of chanting a spell she knew wouldn’t work.”

    “Lord...I sure as hell don’t want to tell Russell this shit when he wakes up.”

    “What choice do we have?”

    Ruby Jean knew that she was at a crossroads. A life changing moment. She looked around before speaking.

    “Alcide, this is a hell of a thing to have to tell someone on the phone, but, well, I think Tara is pregnant now.”

    Alcide felt the pain decrease slightly and he was able to stand.

    “What do you mean? How would you know?”

    “I had a vision. That day I tried to leave Russell. Tara was pregnant. But not by you.”

    “What?! That ain’t possible. If she’s pregnant now, then that will just mean that the baby will have more witch qualities than wolf ones. We’ll try again on the next full...”

    “Listen to me, werewolf! That Viking blood sucker glamoured Tara the night she came here to rescue you! Glamoured her into a sexual act that the poor child doesn’t even remember. That baby is HIS! So what I’m saying is this: go and get that shifter and have her be Tara tonight. When Russell and Eric try and use those rings, we think of a way to keep them outside in the sun, so they burn up for good. Otherwise you all will NEVER be rid of those two!”

    Alcide heard none of that.

    “That baby could be Merlotte’s. Or it could still be mine. Hell, RubyJean, you didn’t even know that I was attacked by a kangaroo! You didn’t know what you were seein’! And I suspected something was off the moment I stepped into this house. Edgington and Northman are definitely going to know it. Our best bet is to get Tara the hell out of that detention center!”

    And with that, Alcide hung up. He was going to be waiting for Bill Compton when he awoke. He would need serious supernatural help to get Tara out of a governmental detention center.

    He didn’t want to think about what Ruby Jean had told him. Because if he did think about it, Alcide would have to come to terms with the fact that Eric Northman broke his part of their pact when he put his hands on Tara.

                                                           ****

    Tara awoke in a room sitting in a chair. The chair was the only thing in the room, Tara noted as she began looking around. The door opened and Sam walked in, closing the door behind him. Tara scowled at him!

    “Where am I?”

    “You’re at a government facility. Tara, honey, we couldn’t have you helping vamps walk around during the day. You didn’t really want to help them, either, did you?”

    Tara stood up from the chair, her legs feeling shaky.

    “My life is none of your business anymore, Sam Merlotte! I can’t believe you were going to help these people do God knows what to me!”

    “I ain’t about to let anyone do anything, Tara! We can get you out of this fake marriage to Herveaux and then you can start living your life right. WE can start living our life, right!”

    Tara just shook her head, as the door opened again, and Special Agent James Mott walked in. Sam turned to Tara.

    “He’s a distant relative of Franklin Mott’s. He’s not him.” Sam said in a low, reassuring voice. He then turned to Mott.

    “I’ll stay with her.”

    “Actually, you won’t.” James said in a clipped tone. “I will be interrogating the prisoner myself.”

    “Tara ain’t no prisoner!”

    Tara stared at Sam.

    “I am, Sam. And in a way, so are you. This is why I never wanted to get involved with this shit.” Tara said in a low voice. “Just go.”

    Sam gave Tara a last lingering glance, and Mott a warning one, before he left the room, closing the door behind him. James indicated the lone chair and Tara sat down in it, creeped out beyond recognition by the face of the man that had brutally terrorized her.

    “Just so you know, that taser had a special drug in it. You won’t be able to use your powers for about two hours. Which is all the time I will need. Now, Mrs. Herveaux, I want to go back aways. Back to the last time you saw a distant relative of mine. One Franklin Mott.”

    Tara peered at him. She had the odd feeling, that she was NOT here because of any vamp plans to walk into the sun. But she prayed she was wrong. After all, Franklin had had nothing to do with any of that. Had he?

    “What about it?”

    “The last time you saw him, if you please?”

    Tara shrugged.

    “The last time I saw him, was when I brained him and got away from his raping ass!” Tara snapped. She was not about to tell this fucker that Jason Stackhouse had killed him, essentially saving her life.

    James had a response for her as well.

    He backhanded her across the face!

    “Now, Mrs. Herveaux, you can answer more nicely than that. Because you see, I have it on good authority, that my relative was killed. And you see, he left a sizable estate. I would like to retire while I’m still relatively young. I can’t do that if I don’t know for sure that Franklin Mott is dead.”

    Tara began scooting backwards in the chair! Holy shit! She had been right! This wasn’t about Russell, Eric or any damned rings! Her nightmare was coming back to haunt her!

    “Well?” James asked, now taking off his suit coat and letting it drop to the floor. “Are you going to tell me what I need to know?”

    “Fuck off!”

    James began rolling up his shirt sleeves.

    “This is going to be a long two hours, Mrs. Herveaux.”

    “SAM!”  Tara screamed and jumped up to run around James and to the door! But James put her in a headlock and dragged her back to the center of the room.

    “Did you see my cousin AFTER you escaped from Russell Edgington’s estate?”

    “NO!” Tara screamed.

    James shoved her back in the chair and took time to punch her in the face, the blow forcing her from the chair and down onto the floor.

    “Let’s try this again before I begin kicking you. Did you see my cousin AFTER you escaped the Edgington estate?”

    All Tara could think about was all of the times Jason had protected her from her abusive mother. She owed him.

    “No.” she said weakly, then closed her eyes as she felt the next blow.

                                                               ****

    It was Eric that awoke and felt Tara’s anguish. He flew to the facility, where several guards perished in his quest to find Tara. When he did, he found someone who looked oddly familiar, KICKING THE MOTHER OF HIS UNBORN CHILD!!!!

    Eric savagely bit into James’s neck before he could even think to react! He bit so deeply that his head came flying off and flew across the room. Eric then reached down to gently  pick Tara up.

    Tara coughed and opened one blackened eye.

    “Eric?” she asked weakly. “Eric...this....dream...I’m not up to sex right now...”

    “Shhh, kitten. Do not move. It is not a dream.”

    Tara began to cry. She couldn’t help it. And the harder she cried the more she hurt.

    “Sam...why did Sam let this happen? Sam!”

    “Shhhh!” Eric hushed her, before carrying her out of the room. Sam showed up, looking sick.

    “What the fuck?! What...”

    Eric gave him a hard look.

    “Are you responsible for what that animal did?”

    “NO! I...”

    “She is carrying my child. If anything happens, your life will cease to exist. Are we clear?”

    “What?!” was all Sam could think to say, as Eric and Tara disappeared in a blur.  Tara was pregnant with Northman’s baby? What kind of bullshit was that? He was lying! He had to be!

    Sam put Eric out of his mind as he crept into the interrogation room and saw the remains of Special Agent James Mott. Oh Lord! He had hurt Tara! Oh Lord...she would never forgive him. Never.

                                                                    ****

    Eric ignored Ruby Jean’s cries and LaFayette’s questions, as he carried Tara up to a guest room on the Edgington estate.

    Russell was livid by the now obvious delay that had been caused! He ordered two wolves to find Sam Merlotte and that other shifter, Luna, to have them killed. He then went back to sipping his drink. Mr. Northman would give the girl some of his blood and they could get on with the ceremony.

    Meanwhile, Tara found that her split lip was wedged helplessly against Eric’s wrist. Slowly, she began to heal. Eric smiled as he stared at her.

    “Could your werewolf do this for you?”

    Tara said nothing but began to cry again.

    “Now, now. It is over. That fiend is dead. Why did you not use your powers on him?”

    “He...he said they wouldn’t work. He tasered me with some kind of drug that would wear off in a few hours. Or so he said.”

    “Are you up to performing the ceremony?” Eric asked.

    Tara looked at him.

    “Thanks for saving me, though I know it was only so I could perform the spell.”

    Eric said nothing to that. He reached down and touched her stomach.

    “There is life there. I can still feel it.”

    Tara blinked.

    “What are you talking about?”

    Eric stood up.

    “Your shifter will die for this. You understand that?”

    “I don’t think Sam knew that it would go that far...”

    “He should have.” was Eric’s answer. “I will leave you to finish healing.”

    Eric turned and walked towards the door. He was just closing it after him, when Alcide appeared.

    “Is she in there?”

    “Yes.” Eric answered and began to walk off, but Alcide blocked his way.

    “Did you fuck my wife, Northman?”

    Eric stared at him hard. Tara was not up to anymore surprises this evening.

    “No. You know that Tara despises me. If you will excuse me, I must dress for the ceremony.”

    Alcide watched him walk off. RubyJean had been wrong. Besides, Northman was the jeering type. If he had had sex with Tara and gotten her pregnant, he would be up in his face bragging about it.

    He touched her doorknob then stopped himself. He would see Tara after he joined the other wolves in the hunt for Sam and Luna. He planned to kill Merlotte himself.