I rode the bus home from the hospital, head still in the clouds from the drugs they had provided me with. However with every passing minute, anxiety had me more clawing on the edge of my seat, trying to get a handle on the situation. 

Instinct told me, that it was time to run again. 

James had found me (was a vampire, could you believe it?)

He had also not so subtily insinuated that I had been playing a part in the demise of Godric – which was a way bigger reason to pack my things and make sure to keep at least an ocean apart me and his vampire son Eric... who I'd nearly fucked in Dallas. 

Where I had gotten involved with a cult that wanted to end all vampires. 

My vision turned blurry again, the drugs trying to pull me back under. I shook my head, angry at my scattered thoughts. 

Run.

James.

Godric.

Eric.

Eric...

Jesus, our make out session had been otherworldly...

I smacked my hand against my forehead. Why did that kept happening? Why were my thoughts always straying away, when I tried to make plans for departure?

Maybe I should just leave Bon Temps right now. Before the others returned. Before dawn. Before... seeing everyone. And having to say goodbye. 

My throat clocked up as anxiety ramped up again.

Nothing was worse than having to take the bus when you were on the run. Every five minutes, it stopped at a station, new passengers got on, others got off, while I sat in the back, trying not to jump out of my skin. At one point, a group of nuns boarded, paying for their fare with jingling coins. Outside, the sky was already starting to change color. It wouldn't be long before dusk settled in, and by then, I had hoped to be far, far away.

I didn't believe that Eric knew about my involvement in Godric's death—hell, even I didn'tfully understand how I was involved in all of it — but I wasn't about to take any chances. Even though I'd surprisingly seen a more human side of him, I was convinced he wouldn't hesitate to remove my head from my shoulders and turn my skull into a decorative vase when he'd find out. And he would find out eventually. Godric was his maker, his father figure. Whatever had been between us, or could have been, wouldn't matter. I might have been clumsy, sometimes a bit stupid, and hot-headed, but I wasn't naive. I knew Eric was dangerous, and I knew when it was time to leave.

For example, when I had some involvement in his makers death, however involuntarily that might had been. A lone tears freed itself from the corner of my eye: Damn it, I had actually liked that kind vampire Godric. 

Nervously, I chewed on my bottom lip and tapped my foot on the floor as the bus crawled along.

"Bon Temps, next stop!" the bus driver yelled over his shoulder, his voice garbled, before spitting some tobacco into a metal can next to his steering wheel. Startled, I stood up and looked out the window.

"Um, excuse me, but Bon Temps is still at least 8 miles away!" I tried to reach the driver on my left. The man, probably in his fifties and slightly overweight, gave me a once-over, lingering on my chest before muttering, "Roadblock. You'll have to get off here, sweetheart."

With those words, he brought the bus to a stop and stared me down until I stumbled out. As soon as I stepped onto the ground, the bus was gone, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind.

"Well, thanks a lot," I muttered, brushing the dust off my pants with a heavy sigh. At least I didn't have much to carry. Slinging my bag over my good shoulder, I started walking. It took a full hour before I got close enough to the town center to realize something was wrong. Sure, Bon Temps had never been particularly clean or well-maintained, but it had always managed to hold onto a certain appearance. I'd never seen an abandoned building with a blaring alarm, shattered windows, and graffiti covering the walls. Nor had I ever seen two naked men going at it on the lawn in front of said building.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" I wasn't sure if they were having sex, fighting, or trying to eat each other. Maybe all of the above. I made sure they didn't see me before I got dragged into one of those three activities.

Heart pounding, I ran past them and hid in the nearest bushes. From there, I took a closer look at the street. Yep, something was definitely wrong here. The streets were emptier than usual. More deserted than they typically were, at least. Only half-dressed, dirty, and disheveled-looking people stumbled and ran around, seemingly without purpose. Some screamed, others laughed, and an old woman in a bra and pantyhose was sitting on the ground, trying to contort her legs behind her head.

"It's been like this for days," a quiet voice whispered next to me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. When I turned around, I saw the dirty face of Coby. My heart sank at the sight of the neglected little boy. "Coby, what the hell are you doing here?"

Arlenes boy threw his little arms around my neck, and I pulled him into a hug.

"Mama came home with black eyes. She was acting strange, and then she disappeared. I tried calling you, but you didn't answer." Coby started to cry, and I felt my heart drop into my stomach as guilt threatened to crush me. "You said I could always call you."

Coby continued to sob, his voice breaking. A woman running down the street turned her head in our direction. Dead, black eyes stared back at us, and I jumped, clutching Coby in my arms. The woman just laughed, then started barking as she ran toward us. She tripped over a branch and fell to the ground, still laughing, before crawling away. It was time for us to move. I quickly set Coby down, put my hands on his shoulders, and looked him in the eyes.

"Coby, where's your sister?" I asked the frightened, obviously malnourished boy. He looked up at me with wide eyes.

"I left her at Merlotte's."

Merlotte's. Got it. That was about a fifteen-minute walk. From there, I'd head home, pack, and hope my car was still there. That was doable. I glanced at the sky, already dipping the world in deep gold.

Maybe I wouldn't make it in time, but I couldn't leave the kids in this chaos. I pushed Coby ahead of me.

"Okay, we're getting your sister," Coby's stomach growled. "And getting you both something to eat."

It turned out, by cutting through the woods, we made it to Merlotte's in under fifteen minutes. But not without me getting my head caught in more than one spider web, turning me into some kind of ninja fighting invisible enemies, but still. At one point, a spider landed on my neck and started crawling up. I shook so violently in disgust that my sling slipped from my shoulder. That's when I realized my shoulder was completely healed. I quickly tied the sling back up, careful not to move my arm to avoid raising suspicion, despite no one around knew of my previous injury. I didn't want to risk it. Such a quick recovery, with or without traces of vampire blood in my system, wasn't normal. And I wanted to figure out what it meant before everyone else started poking around in my business.

When we finally emerged from the woods, I nearly jumped backward again as Sam came toward us.

"Jesus!" he exclaimed, clutching his heart before we both sized each other up, suspiciously. Coby cowered behind me, equally sceptic.

"Black eyes?" Sam asked hesitantly, trying to approach me without getting too close.

"Still green as ever. You, Mister?"

Sam's eyes widened as he stepped into the light to show me that, thank God, his eyes were the same color as always. I released Coby's shoulders, which I had been holding onto. Sam looked down at the boy and sighed.

"Your sister's already inside. I made her some fries and a burger. I'm sure it'll be enough for two."

Coby's eyes lit up, and he was gone before I could stop him. As Sam mentioned the fries and burger, my stomach growled as well, and I looked up at his concerned face, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"And you're doing okay?" he asked cautiously. After I nodded in agreement (and he mirrored my gesture), his tone changed. He got angry.

"In that case: What the hell, Ash!" He pointed to my shoulder and then waved his arms wildly in the air. "You show up drunk to work, then disappear without a word for days. The town's going crazy, everyone's scattered all over the place, and you're unreachable. I'm imaged you lying in a ditch somewhere with your head split open, and then you just reappear, looking..." He trailed off, gesturing at my sling, my face, my whole appearance, before letting out a frustrated breath. "So, what the hell!"

Sam stood there, breathing heavily, waiting for an explanation. His eyes were still scanning me, half-assessing, half-fascinated. For a moment, I thought I saw something like desire in his gaze, but it quickly disappeared after he shook his head. He frowned."I'm listening?"

I wanted to give him an answer. Really. The problem was, I didn't have one. I didn't even know what was going on myself. "I was in Dallas," I said shortly, deciding to skip over the kidnapping (first by James, then later, more or less, by Eric), the Fellowship of the Sun, the bombing, Jason's attempts to help, Eric's advances—thinking of which made my face flush—and finally, the death of a 2,000-year-old vampire who I had actually liked, and whose death I was supposedly involved in.

Still, Sam wasn't happy.

"Dallas? Oh, come on, Ashley, don't tell me you got wrapped up in all that vampire shit like Sookie..."

Well...

Sam correctly read my silence and ran his hands through his hair. "So, you've just been in Dallas for the past few days. You could've at least let me know you were alive and still knew how to get home," he grumbled, clearly upset but also almost brotherly in his concern.

Wow. Had I really only been gone for a few days? Embarrassed by Sam's continued scolding, I hung my head. It was clear his anger stemmed mostly from worry, so I leaned forward, placing my uninjured hand on his arm and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He had been worried about my well-being, which was more than I was used to. Usually, no one cared how I was doing, so I hadn't thought to be considerate. But here, in this small, messed-up town, I had actually found a family.

"I won't do it again, Sam, I promise," I said, strangely touched, the lie burning the back of my throat, since I knew full well that I would be gone by morning. Then I scratched my nose, and Sam snorted before letting out a sigh, his tense shoulders relaxing.

"Who knows, maybe you were safer there," he muttered, carefully placing an arm around my shoulders as he led me into Merlotte's.

Even though I knew it wasn't true, I found some comfort in it, allowing him to lead me.

But even as the warmth of the restaurant welcomed me, I couldn't shake off the sense of unease that clung to me like the dust of the road. Something had been set in motion in Dallas, and as much as I wanted to believe I could outrun it, I knew deep down it was already too late.

He wrapped an arm gently around my shoulders and guided me into Merlotte's at his side.

"And now, let's get you a burger."

Everything inside me was screaming that this was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.

The oppressive red walls seemed to be closing in on me, and I resisted the urge to stand up and make a quick exit through the door before things got any worse. An older woman, dressed in a too-short leather skirt and a crop top, smiled at me encouragingly as she handed me the menu.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, vampires aren't nearly as scary as people say," she winked, sliding me the menu with "Fangtasia" emblazoned on the cover. I gave her a tight, skeptical nod before glancing over at Sam, who mirrored my expression. He, too, had noticed the numerous bite marks and scars on the woman who, with a vacant look, had introduced herself as Ginger.

I quickly ordered a bourbon on the rocks and handed her back the menu, while Sam ordered water and juice for himself and the kids. He was going to make a great father someday. Me? I was probably more suited to be the drunk aunt.

When Ginger brought the drinks, she was practically vibrating with excitement as she set mine down.

"Master Eric has risen and has received your message. He'll be with you shortly."

I shuddered, not just from the title "Master Eric," and took a large gulp of bourbon, nervously chewing on the iceship. Did I mention that this was a terrible idea?

After lulling me into a food coma with his cooking and a lecture about taking better care of myself, Sam had updated me on what had happened in my absence. I must have looked utterly shocked.

The existence of vampires still felt abstract and baffling to me despite the fact, that I had been nibbled on as of late by some fangs, and even though I had found myself in some occult situations lately, I never would have believed something like a maenad existed. When Sam mentioned the orgies and all the debauchery that Bon Temps had surcome to, during my short unplanned vacation in Dallas, the shock of it all had definitely squeezed my voice up a few octaves. Not that orgies themselves surprised me— but throw in cannibalism, occult blood sacrifices, and orgies in a tiny town like Bon Temps? That stretched my imagination to its limits. I felt like my head was spinning right along with the world around me.

"I'm out of ideas, Ash," Sam had admitted with a sigh. "These creatures are centuries old, maybe even older. No one's seen anything like them. At least, no one alive."

The way he emphasized "alive" had set off alarm bells in my head. 

"I'm going to ask Eric for help."

"Oh, Sam, no," I had groaned, my head had hit the table. "When will you people in this town learn that nothing— absolutely nothing— in this world comes without a price? He'll ask for a favor. You'll be in his debt, and he'll collect at the worst possible time. He'll—"

But my pleading had been ignored.

Sam had cut me off by placing a hand over mine."I know, Ash."

At least, looking into his eyes, I was certain, that Sam had been fully able to grasp  the consequences his actions would have. 

"Right now, I don't see another option."

I shrugged and muttered, "Moving is an option," before taking another sip from my straw and earning myself a disapproving look.

"This town is my home," he'd said firmly, giving my hand a squeeze before standing to gather up the plates. "I hope one day you'll feel the same."

I had crossed my arms and grunted in response until Sam had slid a beer across the table at me before cracking one open for himself. "Come with me, Ash. Help me."

I had nearly spat out half the gracious sip I'd been drinking.  He'd softened me up with food and booze, only to be asking for the real favor— to come with him.

"Sam, I don't think—"

He'd shaken his head. "I see the way he looks at you."

I had wanted to protest, but Sams raised hand had stop me.

"Ash, I'm not saying this to judge you. And I wouldn't presume to know whatever it is between the two of you. All I'm saying is that I think it might help if you're there when I ask Eric for this favor."

For a moment, I had considered telling him about my last encounter with Eric. About being unceremoniously kicked out of the hotel room after we'd gotten frisky. Not to mention the cryptic note that had been left on my nightstand at the hospital, and Eric's current state of mind after Godric's death. 

If he even suspected I had anything to do with that, I'd be done for. Then again, I'd been planning to kill him for years now, which wasn't exactly less dangerous if it ever came to light. I was royally fucked either way.

If I were smart, I would have told him all of that. I would have packed my bag and vanished in the craziness that was Bon Temps at that time. Instead I had leaned back and groaned: "Saaaaam, please don't make me do this."

Sam had given me a soft smile. "I'm not making you do anything, Ash. I'd never force you."

But the way he'd said it felt an awful lot like emotional blackmail. I had looked at Sam. At Lisa and Coby, who'd been watching our conversation with wide, expectant eyes. I had thought of their mother, Arlene. Of Lafayette, Tara, Sookie, and even Jason. Leaving them behind would have been one thing  – if I had thought they'd lead happy, peaceful lives once I was gone. However, leaving them in danger was something else entirely. 

So, with a sigh, a string of curses, and a large swig of beer, I'd gotten up to head for the door. "Fine, let's go sell our souls to the devil and pull this town out of the fire again."

And with that, the three of us had piled into the car and headed straight into Fangtasia, diving headfirst into trouble.

Even the cold, now empty bourbon in my hands hadn't been able to convince me, that this had been the smart choice to make.