Summary: AU. Sookie gets tired of Bon Temps, and on impulse decides to hit the road, looking for an adventure, which is exactly what she finds the minute a vampire takes her for a ride.
Disclaimer: Southern Vampire Mysteries and all its characters, including Eric, belong to Charlaine Harris. Not me *pouts*
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Chapter 1:
Floating about on your own
It was a peaceful Thursday night.
I had my windows rolled down as I travel down the I-20 heading towards Shreveport, the wind blowing my hair all over my face, with my best smile pasted on, the excitement covering me from head to toe. Just two hours ago I had decided to pack my bags and hit the road. I am not an impulsive person, but tonight I sure made an exception.
I was leaving my hometown of Northern Louisiana for the most vibrant city of the Mojave desert, Las Vegas.
Today started like any other day. My internal alarm woke me at nine o'clock, I drank coffee and munched a toast, took care of some house chores, read one of my romance novels, showered, put on my waitress uniform and drove my sad yellow nova to the employee's parking lot in the back of Merlotte's Bar and Grill.
Life in Bon Temps had gotten more boring by the minute. You'd think that being a telepath would allow you to get, at the very least, some juicy gossip to entertain yourself daily. Well, let me tell you, after 24 years living among the same people, their lives became a routine to me, a pattern, and if it didn't, knowing in advance what would happen took the excitement out of everything.
As I tend to my tables, with a bored out of my mind attitude, I thought about my possibilities. I wanted to see some city lights, I wanted a complete changed of scenery, meet new people, and since it was highly unlikely that anyone would even consider moving to this backwater of a town, my only solution was to get out myself. Going on a road trip somewhere far away seemed like a pretty good way to amuse myself.
"I'm going to take a vacation" I said cheerfully to my boss, Sam Merlotte, who stood up from his seat behind his desk, staring at me, leaning on the frame of the office door, with surprise. I was smiling, for the first time all day, and not just because it was the end of my shift.
I've been working here for the past eight years, and at first, I took the job to help Gran with the bills, and my brother Jason also got a job, so as not to be outdone, but only now did he had a steady job working for the parish road crew. Our goal was to get Gran to work less and eventually she stopped working all together. She deserved some peace before she left this world, which she did just two months ago.
My desire to stay in this place went away with her.
I don't know why, but for some reason I could not read Sam's mind as clearly as I did others— not that I was eavesdropping— but it took me by surprise when he wrote a check, handed it to me and said, "Take as long as you need, chère, and bring me souvenir."
"Thank you Sam." I replied, my voice choked with emotion but I still managed to give him a warm hug without dropping anything from the pile of paper on his desk. With this check, I would not have to worry about having to do double shifts when I returned, which was relaxing.
I got home in a jiffy, excited about my plans— I didn't see why I should wait for another day, it was a 24 hour drive to Las Vegas anyway; I would still need to find a place to sleep no matter how early or late I left.
I took out my bags from the closet and filled them with 1/3 of my wardrobe, which wasn't as big an amount as it made had sounded. I got into the shower to pamper myself as much as possible, after that, I put on a pair of dark denims, my black Nikes, a pink tank top and a brown hoodie, zipped up to my cleavage and the sleeves rolled just before my elbows.
Before leaving, I locked all the windows, cleared the fridge, left a food dispenser on the porch in case Tina came back while I was away— she has been missing since Gran's death, but I couldn't help myself. I hoped.
So here I was, blasting an Elvis' song on my second-hand non-too-good car speakers, happily contemplating a week or two of casino hopping, but then the thought of my telepathy giving me an advantage in some of the games made me squeamish. I could entertain myself with the machines then, no cheating there. Also, the many night spectacles I could now afford, the very city sights, sunny days by the pool... Well, maybe not a hotel, if I had my way (which I will) I would be spending little time sleeping, so a room in Days-Inn would be more than enough.
The harsh honk of the car behind me caused me to snap out of my reveries. I've been daydreaming again it seems, and while at it, my feet had eased from the accelerator. I picked up the pace again. The brilliance of the Chevy's xenon headlights in my rear view mirror made my thoughts wander to a pair of bright blue eyes.
For two weeks, now I've had this dream. Was it really a dream? I was not sure. I kept struggling with my memory, but it was strange. Missing pieces. I remembered being in a dark alley with an Indian looking guy, I remembered being hurt, there was blood, all over me; but mostly, I remembered the face of a very tall man, with rippling muscles, broad shoulders, long blond hair and bright blue eyes. The pain, which I remember so vividly, I can hardly believe it was a dream, always ended with the beauty murmuring something, locking his eyes to mine.
Mr. Chevy Truck was impatiently honking at me again, so I took this opportunity to exit the highway to fill the car up with gas.
It was a peaceful Thursday night— or so I thought.
I was at a gas station just outside Shreveport, taking my credit card from the machine slot when I heard a loud noise, I turned reflexively to look at the side window-wall of the convenience store, shattered where a man— I rephrase— where a vampire, with long dark braids and chestnut skin, stood. Glaring, his anger directed at...me?
It was then when I realized there were other vampires here. I could not only sense the void of their thoughts, through my telepathy, but also, the vampires were standing so close behind me that I felt, ironically, the blood drain from my body, leaving me cold.
I turned abruptly, barely managing to contain a shriek of fear, only to be matched by one of surprise. There, before me, stood a beautiful blond blue eyed vampire, neither tall nor male, she was not who I've been dreaming about. The same could be said about the one that stood next to her, who at least I did know, he was my only neighbor ever since the vampires came 'out of the coffins', and that calmed my nerves slightly.
"Bill?"
"Sookie, go with Pam!" He said before launching himself at the angry vampire 60 feet across from us.
The blonde, err Pam, who was just my size, maybe an inch or half smaller than I, looked none to pleased, she eyed me for a second and then she pulled the bags from my car and in one blinding movement carried me to a dark grey hatchback. She set me on my feet again, opened the passenger door for me and said "Get in" in a very dull voice, and without stopping to think about anything, I did what she asked. She ran to the driver's seat, turned on the engine and we blurred through the I-20.
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A/N: So, what do you think? This will be my first attempt at a multi chapter fiction and I already have four chapters planned. I want to thanks hannah09, who gave me gave helpful tips about how to chose titles. ^__^
Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you think and how I can improve.
Lani.—