Tara raised a brow as Alcide drove them into Shreveport, then after an additional 45 minutes, took them down a private, gated community. Tara’s eyes widened as she read a sign that said ‘Foxpoint Bay’.

    She was vaguely aware that this was a swanky area, where the upwardly middle class lived. Why was Alcide bringing her here? Was he upwardly middle class? She didn’t know, since before all the trouble started, she’d barely gave him a passing thought. He’d always seemed to be as a man that worked with his hands, she guessed.

    “Do you live here?” Tara asked, looking out of her window.

    “I have a home here, yes. It’s a community for wolves.”

    Tara’s head whipped away from her window to gape at Alcide!

    “Wolves?! What are you talking about?”

    “Wolves, Tara. A community where we can shape shift without causing a panic.”

    Tara turned away and looked out of her window again. Christ! There were two wolves sauntering down a paved road right now! They soon cut off into a small forest. Tara looked over at him again.

    “You must get visits from normal people like me?”

    Alcide glanced over at her.

    “You ain’t normal. You just haven’t accepted it yet.” he said, as he pulled into a circular drive that had a fountain in the middle. Beyond the drive was a footbridge that lead to a house.

    Alcide got out of his truck and walked around to Tara’s door, opening it.

    “Get down. We’re here.”

    Tara reached out and pulled her door closed! There was no way in the hell she was getting out of this damned truck in this ‘neighborhood’! Sheeet! She could be jumped and mauled by a wolf...

    Alcide yanked the door open again, grabbed Tara around the middle and pulled her from the truck! He then slammed the door.

    “Nothing is going to happen to  you here. I want you to see your new home.”

    Tara blinked.

    “My new home?” she asked, then looked around. Minus the wild beasts, it was actually very nice. Peaceful. But...

    “Alcide, I can’t live all the way out here with you! I mean it would be such a long drive into work and...”

    Alcide wasn’t listening to her anymore, as he pulled her along. He had noted that she  was giving excuses for not living here, as if it were indeed a possibility that could happen. They made their way over the footbridge and soon, Alcide dug out his keys, unlocking the door. He gestured for Tara to walk in first and she did.

    “Lord!” Tara breathed as she looked around the decor. Alcide closed the door and began speaking.

    “Tara, this is where I want us to live when we’re married. Maybe for a year or so,” he said, gently resting his hands on the back of her shoulders and brushing some hair aside, “this is where I want to make our child.” he finished, brushing his lips against the back of her neck.

    Tara’s stomach did flip-flops in response to his lips, and she moved away a bit, before turning to face him. Alcide spoke again.

    “I fixed your car. Come to me here. Tonight.”

    “Alcide, if I make the rings for Russell and Eric, then we don’t have any need to be married or to make any babies. They’ll find out what’s going on and everything will be alright. I’m going to go upstairs and look around, okay?”

    Alcide just nodded and watched as Tara walked up the oak staircase.  She was definitely enthralled with the house and the idea of living here. But she was still shaky about actually making that happen, despite what happened between them the previous night.

    Alcide was about to head to the jacuzzi, hoping to entice Tara into it, when the doorbell rang. He frowned as he went to the door. He wasn’t expecting anyone.

    Meanwhile, Tara took her time looking around upstairs, then stopped in her tracks when she found a baby’s room, decorated in a unisex fashion. Tara just stared at the crib for a moment, then shook her head. This was wrong. This whole thing was so wrong. She was going to make Alcide take her home now!

    But as she headed for the landing, Tara heard voices. Raised ones. She slowly descended the staircase to see Alcide standing in the foyer with a blonde looking couple. The woman flipped some hair and walked up to her.

    “Tara, right? I’m Jules Lockwood. This is my husband, Mason.”

    Tara shook Jules’s hand politely, then looked at Mason, who was drop dead gorgeous! They had to be wolves too, Tara guessed.

    “Yes, I’m Tara.”

    “Alcide’s fiancee?” Mason asked, his eyes leaving hers and focusing in on Alcide.

    “Your ‘courtship’ has been kind of quick, hasn’t it?” Jules, said, now eyeing Tara and moving back to Mason’s side.

    “Whether it’s been fast or slow, it’s none of your damned business.” Alcide said coolly. Tara eyed him. Uh oh! What was this shit?!

    “Come now, Alcide. We were just being--friendly.” Mason said, his eyes piercing Tara with that last word.

    “Yes, Alcide,” Jules said, reaching over towards a table and picking up a plate with foil on it, “I even baked lemon bars.”

    “Oh, I love lemon bars!” Tara said, reaching for the plate. But Alcide knocked it out of Jules’s hands and the treat fell to the floor!

    “Get the fuck out!” he growled.

    Mason eyed Alcide, then looked at Tara knowingly.

    “Tara, you must excuse our nosiness. But there is a rumor running around Foxpoint Bay, that Alcide here barely knows you, that he’s trying to get you pregnant during the next three full moons, just so he can secure his candidacy as packmaster--a position I am running for, by the way.”

    “So,” Jules said, now practically snarling at Alcide, “are you trying to get pregnant?”

    Tara looked over at Alcide. She could see all of this was really important to him, and she didn’t want to bust him out in front of these people, who seemed kind of bastardly to her.

    “No. I AM pregnant.” Tara smiled, reaching for Alcide’s hand. Mason and Jules glanced at one another.

    “Really?” Jules asked in disbelief, looking at her stomach. “because you don’t look very far along.”

    “Because I’m not.” Tara said coolly. “Alcide is just kind of sensitive about the whole thing. But enough about me. Where are you all from? You don’t have accents that sound like you’re from around here.”

    “We’re from Virginia.” Mason answered reluctantly. “Look, we’ve taken up enough of your time. Jules and I should get going.” he said, bending down to pick up the lemon bars.

    “Oh no! I’ll get them and return your plate.” Tara replied, smiling again. Jules just nodded and her and Mason left the house, closing the door behind them. Alcide walked over to a front, bay window to watch them as they walked over the footbridge. He then turned to look at Tara.

    “Thanks.”

    “Yeah...you want to tell me what that was all about?” Tara asked.  Alcide folded his arms.

    “I shouldn’t have brought you out here so soon. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come out here tonight.”

    Tara walked up to him.

    “You’re kidding me, right? You’ve been bothering the shit out of me about us being together and now...”

    “And now your life could be at stake!” he snarled. He took a deep breath and looked around for his keys.

    “What are you saying?”

    “I’m saying that we have no choice but to wait until the next full moon. Or find another place.”

    Tara’s mouth dropped open! Okay, now she was scared! Probably because he looked so uneasy.

    “Tell me what’s going on with those two? What’s happening here? Alcide, I already told them I was expectin’ here! You’ll be embarrassed if we don’t create...”

    Tara couldn’t believe she was actually contemplating doing this! But Alcide didn’t appear to be listening anyway. He opened the door and pulled her by the hand, out of the house. Tara wrenched away from him!

    “Talk! Now!”

    “Tara, those two came from Virginia...hell, God knows where! But I suspect, and can’t prove that they’ve been killing wolves in the community. Don’t ask me why, I just feel that they’re responsible. Part of my wanting to become Packmaster, is so I can have a little more control over what the hell’s going on in this community--and my pack. Having a witch for a wife, would help my chances, yes. But I saw the look in their eyes. The moment my  back is turned....I think you’re already in danger....”

    Tara reached up and put a finger against his lips.

    “Why don’t we have Sookie come out here and listen in on them? We can invite them to a party or something?”

    “Do you think she’d help out?”

    “You’d have to invite Bill, but yeah, she’d help if I asked.” Tara reasoned. “And don’t go worrying about me. I’m a powerful witch, remember?” she smiled up at him.

    “Will you come to me after your lesson with Northman? We can be together at Russell’s.”

    Tara couldn’t form the words to say ‘no’.

    Instead she said, ‘we’ll see’.

    Alcide was just glad she hadn’t said ‘no’. Her resistance was slipping. Hopefully he would know for sure tonight. He cast one last glance around, before slipping a protective arm around Tara’s waist and walking across the footbridge with her, towards his truck.

    Meanwhile, Jules and Mason had changed into their wolf forms and were peering at the couple through some foliage. They shifted back into human form and stared after the truck, as it drove off.

    “That’s her! That’s the witch I’ve been hearing about! The one that’s going to make rings for vamps!” Jules practically snarled. “How could Alcide go along with that?”

    “There has to be something more. I noticed she wasn’t wearing an engagement ring.” Mason said. “But for now, I think we ought to pay a visit to the newspaper office.”

    “Why?” Jules asked.

    “Don’t you think the citizens around here would want to know that Herveaux is helping the vamps gain an advantage over other sups?”

    Jules folded her arms over her breasts.

    “Why just go to a Were paper? Let’s see about going mainstream. Anonymously, of course.” she smiled.

    “That’s a thought.” Mason replied, now stretching.

    Jules now grinned!

    “And the lack of engagement ring doesn’t mean much. I’ve heard the Herveaux family are filled with nothing but cheap bastards.” she said.

                                                         ****

    Alcide dropped Tara off at Sookie’s, reaching for her hand to clasp it briefly, before taking off.  Tara walked up the steps of the house feeling more conflicted than ever. She opened the door and could smell the remains of her Alpo Lasagna.  Sam...she did owe him some dinner. Now that her car was fixed, she would go shopping for something else to fix him.

    So, she would have dinner with Sam, then go to Russell’s and get trained by that fucker Eric Northman, then...

    Then come back to Sookie’s, right?

    Tara sighed at her predicament, just as her eyes fell upon the UPS package that she forgot to open this morning. Figuring it was from Alcide, Tara tore open the box, then gasped when she saw what it was.

    It was a DVD of ‘Gone With The Wind’! There was a fucking card with it from Eric Northman, with some bullshit about how ‘he thought Tara would enjoy this’! Lord, did he actually KNOW what she dreamt about? Sookie had never said anything about that when she had had Bill and Eric’s blood! Yeah, she had had sexual dreams about them, but THEY didn’t know that!

    Tara thought about waiting until Bill woke up and asking him about this shit! But she was still pissed off at him. She didn’t know why, but she almost blamed him for doubting Sam.

    Tara sighed and looked at the card again. Now that her head had cleared, she actually read the thing:

    Hello, Kitten. Thank you for an enjoyable time last night in your dream. I am looking forward to the next one-E.N.

    Tara was sorry she had read it. She ripped it up and threw it in the trash, just as Sam knocked on the back kitchen screen door, and walked in. Tara frowned.

    “Sam? Uh, you’re early. I haven’t fixed anything yet.” she lied.

    “Well, I thought I’d come early.”

    “Why?”

    “Because you were right. We should talk before eating dinner. Hell, I’ll help you make it. That’d be more fun, don’t you think?”

    “Uh yeah, I guess.” Tara said in a hollow voice. Something was wrong. But she did not know what. Sam looked uneasy. Like Alcide had looked back at Foxpoint Bay. Maybe her being a witch was bothering him more than he had let on?

    “Tara?” Sam asked, eyeing her. “What’s wrong?”

    Tara licked her lips.

    “I messed up dinner. I had fixed it earlier.”

    Sam sniffed the air delicately, then looked over at the trash.

    “You fixed some kind of pasta, didn’t you?” he asked, peering over at the trash. Tara saw his eyes go over there and panicked! The can of Alpo was in there as well!

    “Yeah, but like I said, it didn’t work out. I’ll fix something else and I don’t want you helping! I invited you so relax, okay?”

    Sam nodded, rubbing her arm and left the kitchen. He went out to the living room and saw that Tara had opened the UPS package that had come earlier that day. He frowned. It was a DVD copy of ‘Gone With The Wind’. Sam had never thought Tara liked this particular movie.

    He then picked up the noted that accompanied it and paled.

    E.N. could be no one but Eric Northman! And what the fuck did he mean in this note about ‘enjoying Tara’s dream’? Alcide Herveaux was bad enough but now it looked like this vampire muthafucker was moving in on Tara as well???

    “Tara?” Sam called out.

    Tara, who had found some chicken breasts in the freezer, took them out and walked out into the living room. She sighed when she saw Sam holding Eric’s note.

    “Oh.” was all Tara said.

    “Oh? Really, Tara? ‘Oh’ is all you have to say? What the hell is this?”

    Tara folded her arms.

    “I’m not sure.”

    “Excuse me?!”

    “I’m not sure, Sam! I’m not sure! I think somehow he slipped me his blood.”

    Sam squinted at her.

    “I don’t understand how a vamp can ‘slip you some blood’ without you knowing?”

    “Well he did! Sookie used to tell me about how that works. But the thing is, the vamp usually doesn’t know what you’re dreaming about. Somehow this one does.”

    Sam said nothing. He suspected it was Tara’s witch origins that was making all of this happen, but he couldn’t prove it. Tara spoke again.

    “Sam, I need to talk to you about Alcide Herveaux. I wasn’t exactly truthful about that.”

    “About what?” Sam asked, turning away. But God help him, he knew what she was going to say...

    “I kind of spent the night with him. He said he would bother another witch if he saw we had no chemistry.”

    Sam turned back to her.

    “So the sex was terrible?”

    Tara coughed, looked away and shook her head quickly!

    “Jesus fucking Christ, Tara! You’re telling me you liked fucking a werewolf?!”

    “Hey!” Tara snapped. “He wasn’t a wolf when I slept with him. Anyway, that dream with Eric Northman happened the same night. You know, I don’t like your tone.”

    “Oh you don’t like my tone, hey?”

    “That’s right! Don’t you have something you need to tell me?”

    Sam cleared his throat.

    “Well if you know then come out with it.”

    “Okay, I will! Bill Compton and Alcide said you’re a shifter! Is that true?”

    “What do you think?”

    “I think you need to stop being funny! I almost fed you Alpo tonight to test you! If you had been truthful, maybe I wouldn’t have been driven to do that shit!” Tara snapped. Sam’s mouth dropped open!

    “Alpo?! The dog food?”

    “That’s right.” Tara sniffed. Sam walked into the kitchen and followed the lingering aroma of something, to the trash. He looked in and saw that something had been scraped in there.

    He also saw a can underneath the mess. All he could se was an ‘A’ and a ‘P’. Sam turned back and found Tara was now in the kitchen.

    “Jesus, you were going to poison me instead of just asking? How fucked up is that?”

    Tara folded her arms.

    “I don’t want to hear it. You owe me an apology, Sam Merlotte. You didn’t trust me to tell me the truth.”

    “Why? So you could sneak Alpo in my dinner? You know what? I’m leaving. Have a good night, Tara.”

    Tara watched as Sam walked out of the back door. Tears immediately sprang into her eyes and she angrily swiped them away.

    “I’m a prejudiced fuck!” Tara moaned as she picked up the bag of chicken breasts and put them back in the freezer. “Why should it matter? I’d love Sam if he was a turtle. Oh...”

    Suddenly Sam, who had quietly returned to the house, held her tightly from behind while sticking a needle in her neck! Tara immediately began struggling! She knew it was Sam doing this but why?!

    “Sam!” she wheezed before the damnedest thing happened.

    Suddenly, only Tara’s clothes could be seen!

    Sam immediately let go of her, then flew back when he was punched in the face! He didn’t even see her fist coming!

    “What the fuck were you trying to do?! What was that needle shit all about? Sam? Answer me!”

    “Tara...uh...Tara...uh...look at yourself in the mirror!”

    Sam was staring at her so oddly, then Tara slowly walked over to a wall  mirror and screamed! Sam walked over to her clothing.

    “Honey, we’ll figure it out! It’s probably part of your witch powers...look, I’ve been working for the government and they wanted to bring you in themselves. I knew you wouldn’t just come quietly. But honey, we can get out of all of this with their help.”

    Tara turned from the mirror to glare at Sam.

    “You work for the Feds?”

    “I was in trouble. Years ago. I was offered a chance to watch over things here in exchange for my freedom. Tara, they’re planning on coming after your whole family, the wolves and the vampires.”

    Sam watched as Tara’s clothing moved away from him.

    “Aunt Ruby Jean was right then.” she said softly.

    “Tara, honey, can you make yourself visible again?”

    “Fuck off!”

    “Come on, don’t be like that! Being invisible isn’t helping things here.”

    Meanwhile, Eric Northman had awakened and could sense something was amiss with Tara. But she had not drank enough of the gatorade for him to get a clear reading on anything. He forced himself to concentrate on LaFayette’s lesson, before they were interrupted by of all people, Alcide.

    Alcide noted that LaFayette seemed a little more steady and sure of himself, than he had the previous evening. He watched as the witch left him and Northman alone.

    “Look, I’m asking you for a favor.”

    “Favors from me cost.” Eric said blithely, holding a clipboard. He checked off some things concerning LaFayette’s progress.

    Alcide let the comment pass.

    “I think Tara could be in some danger from members of my community. I need for you to watch out for her at night, if you can.”

    Eric set the clipboard down and gave Alcide his full attention.

    “Won’t YOU be with her at night? Or is the courtship going that badly?”

    “If you want to see those damned rings you want Tara to make, then you’ll help me out here. Just serve as a bodyguard. I know she hates your guts and can be difficult...”

    “Oh, I don’t think Tara ‘hates my guts’, Eric said knowingly, “but I do admit that I have sensed some hostility.”

    Alcide rolled his eyes.

    “Are you going to do this or not?”

    “Of course. As you’ve said, if I want to see the rings, then it is important that Tara is kept safe.” he said looking at his watch. “She’s late. I will bring her here myself.”

    “I think she’s late because of Merlotte. She’s havin’ a hard time there.”

   
    “That’s not my concern, is it?” Eric said blithely. “I’ll go and get her now so you can see your beloved is safe.”

                                                    ****

    When Eric arrived at Sookie’s home. he found Merlotte there with....

    “What is going on?” Eric asked, confused.

    “Get the hell out of here, Northman!” Sam seethed with frustration. Tara stood up from the couch she had been sitting on, took off all of her clothes, dropped them and then went silent.

    Eric’s eyes went wide for a moment. He then spoke.

    “She has the power of invisibility?”

    “Apparently so!” Sam cried, throwing up his hands. “Tara, I can smell you so I know you’re still near by.”

    “As can I.” Eric said in a hard tone. “And I don’t have time for this. You need to come with me for your lesson.”

    “Fuck off!” Tara snapped. Both creatures realized the sound came more from the stairs! Eric used his speed to make a grab for her, but got nothing but air!

    “I do not find any of this amusing, Tara Thornton! Now reveal yourself this insta...” Eric began.

    “Holy shit!” Sam yelled as Eric’s prized sports car that he had driven over, started up and sped off! Sam looked at Eric, who just stared off into the night.

    “You’re not going to go after her? She just stole your car!”

    Eric turned and gave Sam a cold look.

    “Let me ask you a question: did you ever love her? At all?”

    “I love Tara about as much as...”

    “As much as a shill for the human federal authorities could? I’ve known about you for years. I check out every person that is in Sookie’s life. And I think you are part of this ‘apocalypse’ that is coming for our kind. Am I correct?”

    “I didn’t have a choice. And all I want to do is love and protect Tara. There is a deal in the works. She could get immunity just from being married to me. So do what you want, vamp. You can kill me if you want, but it’s still going down.”

    Eric smiled coldly at Sam.

    “Kill you? No, Mr. Merlotte. If I killed you, then I would not be able to use Tara’s anger with you, over your betrayal of her, to bring out her most useful powers. Now if you will excuse me, I must find my car. And the driver.”

    And with those words, Eric disappeared into the night. Sam looked around, saw the ‘Gone With The Wind’ DVD, hurried to the back door and flung it into the darkness after Eric!

    “YOU FORGOT YOUR DVD YOU VAMPIRE FUCK!” he screamed, before forcing himself to calm down. He reluctantly pulled out his phone. He would have to tell Agent McKay that not only had he failed to bring Tara in, but that he had witnessed one of her powers for himself.