"G-Godric? As in Godric, sheriff of area 9?" she asks him in shock as she perked at his revelation.

"Yes" he replies with a simple nod.

"You - You're 2 millennia old" she points out, recalling what her brother told her about him, "there is no way that the Fellowship captured you" she adds with a frown.

"My presence in this cell suggests otherwise" he replies.

"No, your presence in this cell suggests that you gave yourself up to them" she counters pointedly. "Why?" she asks him.

He could have killed any and all who dared try and attack him because he's 2,000 years old for Pete's sake!

"When you have been alive for 2,000 years very few things interest you anymore and even less excite you" he replies dryly as Marina writes down suicidal in her notes.

"So you think that True Death is better than living? Sheriff, that's very...emo of you" she comments.

"I don't understand that reference" he says, sounding confused in a monotone way that Rina doesn't think is even possible.

"It means that you think you are meant to be tormented" she comments as she continues to make more notes in the notepad.

"I have been a tormentor for a long time" he comments in what sounds like a tone of indifference as if to say that it's time for him to be in the shoes of the tormented one now.

Marina might not be a real psychologist/psychiatrist/therapist but she is sensing a shit ton of self-loathing in his voice.

"Why do you want to die?" she asks him bluntly as she lifts her head from staring at her notepad to face him.

"What would make you believe that I want to die?" he asks her in his monotone voice. He was curious to hear her response.

"So you're sitting in this cell because you think that Steve Newlin's interior designer has skills that you'll simply die if you can't have?" she asks with pointed sarcasm.

She is as sharp tongued and witty as her brother and Isabel described her to be.

"You are young. You don't understand what it's like" he replies simply.

"I am young in comparison to you" she concedes, "but then again so is basically anything on the planet aside from the planet itself" she adds. "I just don't understand your need to...sacrifice yourself" she adds, trying to think of the right word to use.

"My people have committed grave sins against humankind. I myself have...killed more people than I can count" he adds, curious to see how she would react to the revelation but she surprises him by not so much as flinching as she writes some information down.

"Okay" she nods, "but you've changed, right?" she adds, recalling all the praises that her brother and Isabel have sung of him. He sounded like a stand up guy according to everything that they've said about him. He seemed to care about maintaining peace between the vampire race and the human race.

"I like to believe so" he replies.

"And yet you don't believe yourself changed enough to not warrant True Death? Sheriff, I hate to break it to you but your logic is exceptionally flawed" she adds as she leans back in her seat to face him.

"How so?"

"You're more than two millennia old. You've had more than ample time in which to learn to...evolve into the person that you are today" she starts, "the new vampires, the newborns of this day and age don't have that luxury. It's even more limited given that there are fanatics like this church who plan to kill them before they have a chance" she adds.

Add on the fact that they are living in a world where humans constantly speak ill of them and how they wish that they could just kill them all and you can understand the mounting pressure.

"My death would be the catalyst––"

"Sheriff, you were human once long ago too, remember? Be honest with yourself" she cuts in, "do you honestly believe that humanity will care about the death of ONE vampire?" she asks him as Godric meets her eyes, unable to form a response. Marina Sinclair is as intelligent as Isabel claimed she was. "If you were a human who just happened to live in this day and age, do you think that you would have cared if a vampire killed himself as a way of showing that his kind can be redeemed?" she asks him.

Godric doesn't reply to this because the truth is that he would have probably ignored it and carried on with life as he's seen many humans of this time do.

"I'll tell you. They don't" she says bluntly. "Do you want to know what I think" she asks him as she plays with the pen in her hand.

"Please share" he replies. His conversation with Marina Sinclair is the most informative conversation that he's had with someone in...years.

"I think that you are suicidal and the Fellowship is your excuse to kill yourself without actually doing it yourself" she replies in honesty, "because you'd rather have someone else – aside from you – be responsible for your death rather than yourself because then that way you wouldn't feel as guilty about betraying your bond with your progeny" she adds.

Joseph had been right when he said that his sister could read anyone like a book.

"Look" she starts in a gentler tone. "Humanity...we aren't that different from you" she adds, "I mean sure you need the blood of the living to sustain yourselves but we kill just as you do" she adds.

"Vampires are predators" he replies.

"So are humans. Ever heard of Ted Bundy? Jeffrey Dahmer? Ezbert Bathory?"

"Actually..."

"Just let me have my moment" she cuts in amusedly. "I'm trying to prove a point" she adds.

"Yes, of that I have no doubt" he replies. "But the fact of the matter remains that my kind have left more bloodshed and gore in their lives than humans ever could" he adds.

"If you're going to go by that logic then there is little that I can do to change your mind" she comments with a sad sigh. "I'm saddened that you think your life of such little worth" she adds, "especially considering my brother and Isabel have nothing but praises to sing about you" she adds. "There are people who care about you, sheriff, and what you're doing is going to hurt them. Your death would be like a - a ripple" she adds, for lack of a better word.

"How so?"

"You might assume that it'll only impact those who knew you but like a ripple it'll impact everyone" she adds as she rises from her seat. "I think I have more than enough to keep Steve sated for now" she adds. She had been careful not to give too much away.

"Why are you doing this?" he asks her.

"Because I believe that not all vampires are the bedtime monsters that mainstream media make them out to be" she replies, "don't get me wrong, I know that there are some sadistic ones out there but you're not one of them anymore" she says, acknowledging that he did make mistakes but has grown from them.

She is a strange human. The last person that he met who was this fearless was Eric.

"You are exactly as your brother described you" he points out.

"Blunt, a know-it-all and stubborn to a fault?" she asks him amusedly as a way of releasing some of the tension that had settled in the air due to the heaviness of their prior conversation.

"Smart, compassionate and dedicated" he replies as Marina offers him a smile at this.

She didn't know that Joseph called her these things. Usually he called her stubborn, but that's because she was stubborn and had done something to upset him.

"Thank you" Marina replies. "See you around sheriff" she says as she heads for the door. She slips her mask back on as she steps out the dungeon and makes sure to shudder in what would be seen as disgust because she can feel Gabe's eyes on her.

"I decided to write down everything he told me" she tells him, "oh boy, he thinks he's got some kinda conscience. Ain't that funny" she says with a laugh as Gabe scoffs at the very thought of it.

"Vampires don't feel shit aside from evil" he grumbles out.

Rina has to keep herself from punching him at this. It's just like a racist, bigoted and misogynistic pig like Gabe to generalize the entire vampire race when he probably hasn't even had a civil conversation with ONE of them.

"He creeped the hell outta me" she says with another shiver. "I hope I never gotta do that again" she lies.

Her chat with Godric had been very informative on where his mindset lay at the moment and it's saddening that he's filled with so much self-loathing.

"Get the hell outta here" Gabe growls at her as she scowls at him as she walks off.

"Racist fucker" she comments softly as she walks off to go deliver her notes to Steve's office.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Maria, how'd your interview with our residential vampire go?" Steve Newlin asks her when she walks into his office after his secretary announced her.

"He ain't no different from his kind, pastor" she replies. "Funny thing is he thinks that he's some kinda vampire hero" she adds.

"The very thought is laughable" Steve says with a cold laugh.

"Here are the notes that I took, pastor. You'll see for yourself that he's just another undead monster that deserves to fry" she comments, hating the words that are leaving her mouth but she has to walk the walk if she plans to expose these psychos for all that they are.

"Bless his holy light" Steve says as he takes the notepad from her like a greedy child. He probably can't wait to delve into the psyche of his vampire 'captive'. "I was so pleased ta hear that you've decided to take up myself and my wife's offer on being a leader" he adds.

"It's time for me to spread his holy light in whatever way I can, pastor" she says as he smiles quite happily at this.

Dumbass.

"And spread it you shall. I have faith in the future of this church if we have more youth like you" he says as she offers him a tight smile at this.

"Thank you kindly, pastor" she replies. "Let me go look for Mrs. Newlin so that I can get my assigned duties" she adds.

"Of course" he says, "hop right to it then" he says as she walks off. When she closes the door behind her she shudders at being in the same room as the creep and this time her shudder is real.

She can't wait until she's gotten the hell out of dodge. This place can send anyone into a sanitarium. Her mission to expose them is probably the only thing keeping her from going mad.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"I just can't imagine sitting in the same room as one of those undead bastards an' NOT wanting to stake 'em" Claire says to Marina as they go grab a seat with their food.

"The memory still makes me all creeped out" Marina lies.

"I hope they fry him soon" Claire says, "I can't wait ta see it!" she adds excitedly as Marina shudders at the glee in Claire's voice at having to watch someone die. "You poor dear, you still got shivers now" she coos like Marina is some sort of baby when she sees Marina shiver, "I can't imagine how terrified you must'a been" she adds.

"Quite" Marina replies in honesty, referring to how frightening the psychos of this cult could be. Claire included.

"It'll be alright" Claire says as she places a comforting hand on Marina's shoulder as she nods stiffly at this as she takes a sip of her water.

She wishes desperately that she could throw the water in Claire's face and tell her to wake up!

Claire probably doesn't even know WHY she hates vampires so much and probably doesn't even know whether her hatred is her own or anger that was just projected on her and she was expected to have.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Apparently Marina did a good job with the notes from her conversation with Godric that Steve decided he wanted her to go and speak with the vampire sheriff again on the following night.

"Hello sheriff" she greets him as she sinks back into her seat right outside his cell.

"It is good to see you unharmed, Ms. Maria" he replies, calling her by her fake name.

It sounds a little strange coming from him.

"Are you referring to my physical state or my mental because I can assure you that my mental state is quite fractured after 2 months in this place" she says as he regards the human before him in what feels like amusement. He can't tell anymore. "Is that a hint of a smile?" she teases the stoic vampire, "well I'll be damned, I am a God damn miracle worker. Maybe I ought to replace Newlin" she further teases as she jots down the date in the notepad.

"Somehow I don't think you'll be quite as popular with the vampire-hating kind" he replies, sounding a little amused by her jest.

"Oh? And why's that?" she asks him, going along with the playful air that's settling between them.

"Well for starters one must hate vampires to form a vampire hating organisation" he replies as she laughs at this.

"I suppose I won't be as popular as them, huh" she says, "Newlin liked the notes I made so I'm required to make more" she points out. "But before I do I'd like to ask you a question, if you'll let me?"

"Of course."

"I noticed that you have something of an accent and a lisp when you speak English and was wondering where you're from? Originally" she adds.

"I am from what was known as Gaul in the Old World" he replies.

"How fascinating" Marina says in clear awe. "What I wouldn't give for the opportunity to pick apart your brain" she says with clear excitement.

Yes, she was majoring in journalism but she was also minoring in history and found history to be exciting to read – when you look past the shitty aspects of it.

Of which there were A LOT.

"Acquiring knowledge about the histories of the world is something that interests you?"

"Oh yeah" she nods. "So much so in fact that I'm minoring in it" she admits, "Sometimes I'd fall asleep at the library and Joseph would have to come pick me up" she reveals.

"You two are quite close" he notes. It's no small thing for a vampire to give a human any item with their blood in it. It was their way of warning other vampires and supernaturals with strong senses of smell to steer clear of that human as they were claimed.

"Yeah" she comments with a smile, "we are" she adds.

"He speaks fondly of you" Godric points out.

"If he stood before us now he'd probably deny that" she adds with a light laugh. She knows that her brother loves her but he just does the typical brother thing where he denies it. "So, it'll surprise you to know that I have no idea what to write down for Newlin" she reveals as she leans back in her seat to face him.

"Have you figured out all of my secrets already?" he asks in what would have passed off as a jest if not for the fact that he said it so blasé.

It probably is a joke. Marina snorts at this.

"Only a few" she replies with a laugh as she writes some stuff down.

"What are you writing?"

"I'm giving them what they want" she replies. "They want a monster and I'm giving them one" she adds.

"And you think your words will appear valid enough?"

"One can only hope" she replies. They sit in silence for a while as she writes frantically in the notepad. "How does this look?" she asks as she rises from her seat to approach his cell as she extends the notepad to him.

He watches her for a while before he rises from his spot and takes the notepad from her. He can't believe that she's trusts him so much to approach him so coolly like this.

His eyes scan over the pages that she had written. "Too much?" she asks him.

"It sounds frighteningly like things that a vampire would do" he points out as he hands her back her notepad. Marina seems to know how to think like a vampire.

"Then that's good. This was me combining all of the villains of history into one single guy" she adds, "sorry it has to be you" she adds with a sheepish half-smile.

"It is not...too far off from the atrocities that I've committed" he counters in his silky smooth voice.

"Why do you do that?" she asks him with an arch of the brow and tilt of the head.

"Do what?"

"Have to continually paint yourself as a villain" she adds, "are you trying to make me dislike you? Fear you?" she asks him – point blank.

"Your inability to show fear around me despite my history is a cause for concern" he replies simply.

"You think that my judgment is clouded when it comes to vampires because my brother is one?" she asks, calling it how she sees it.

"Partially so" he replies, seeing no need to lie to her. It would be insulting her intelligence to do such a thing.

"It may surprise you to know sheriff but I've seen what a monster looks like and trust me when I say that pale skin and fangs aren't what make someone a monster" she adds as she averts her eyes as she looks at the notes as if they are the most interesting thing in the world to her now. Her comment intrigues him.

What could she have gone through to warrant saying such a thing?

"Monstrous actions with no genuine remorse about them make individuals monsters" she says as she heads back to her seat.

"In that we are agreed" he says as she lifts her eyes to face him. He's surprised to see that her once warm and humour filled eyes are now closed off as if she's wearing a completely different mask now.

Interesting.

He almost wants to ask her what she means by this but decides against it, thinking that it's none of his business and the matter might be too personal for her to feel like she needs to share it with someone that she's only known for such a brief time. 

A/N: Please like and comment as it helps the book gain more traction which makes it pop up for others interested in True Blood and Godric😊. Don't be a stranger😉. With that being said I hope that you guys like the chapters so far✌️