Disclaimer: I don't own anything you may recognise from The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of books.
I sip on my gin and tonic, waiting for Eric. Or I should say I sipped on the melted ice left in my glass, the only thing that remained of my drink. I set the glass back on the table, a little harder than I had too, and tried to catch Pam's eye.
The blonde vampire gave me a measuring look from where she stands behind the bar, talking to the new bartender. Its a slow night. No reason that Eric should be taking this long. I wiggle my empty glass in the air at her.
She raises an eyebrow and I swear is about to crack a smile at my antics - but then she breaks off, staring at the door. A hush drops over the bar. Pam - and everyone else - is transfixed at the vision that has just entered. The woman is unnaturally beautiful – every movement a siren song calling to the hearts and loins of those packed into the bar.
I stare at her; mesmerised. She smiles and preens, pushing her breasts out slightly. It is a sensuous movement. I am impressed – I don't know many people who could pout with body parts other than their lips.
She gives me a dazzling smile. I smile back weakly. She saunters over in my direction and I watch, fascinated, as her hair ripples in a breeze that seems to emanate from an undetectable source. Cautiously, I raise my hand to see if I can feel a draught that might be causing her hair to be wind-blown. I can feel nothing. I move it around a little.
She sees my waving hand and takes it as an invitation, sitting down in the booth across from me.
"Hi" she said, leaning forward slightly – her voice quivering as if it held a delicious secret only to be shared between the two of us. "I'm Mary Sue."
"Oh" I replied. "I'm Sookie Stackhouse."
"I know", the words reverberated in my head and I hiss out in shock at the realisation.
"You're a telepath too!" I screech at her mentally. Externally, my face just shows the dumb shock I am feeling.
"Yes," she says, and gives a tinkling laugh that floats over the bar and set even more heads swivelling towards us.
A waitress to the left of us walks into a table, her drinks flying out from her tray and onto the people sitting there. She starts to dab at the shirt of the person closest to her, uttering some kind of apology, but her words soon trail off; her hand stopping a moment later to just rest on his chest. He absent-mindedly pushes her hand out of his way, to get a better look at her.
I clear my throat. "I hope you don't mind me asking you this or nothing. You see – I get asked this all the time and well, it annoys me – but I gotta know. What are you?"
She giggles, and I hear the crashes of more people colliding with each other due to their attention being fixed on one thing – and one thing only.
"Well, I'm pretty hard to define actually. I think in your language – I'd be a literary device?"
My mouth hangs drops open, wide enough to catch a swarm of flies, but before I can say anything else. She bounces up in her seat, and gives me another one of those dazzling smiles. "Oh! I need to go – I'm so sorry to run out on you like this – especially when I know we were about to become best friends! But I am needed in my land – "
She strikes a stoic pose. A burst of applause is heard from the tables around us.
"Could I go there?" I ask.
She gives me a startled look and seems about to say something, but then settles on a tiny shrug. "You know, I wouldn't worry so much about what is 'possible' around me. Or even probable!" At this she throws back her head and laughs loudly.
She gives me another one of those smiles, and turns to leave. In her wake, a sea of stunned looking fangbangers swarm out of Fangtasia. Dotted amongst them like sharks following a school of fish, I notice vampires departing in the crowd. Within minutes, the bar is deserted. Except for me, and the vampire I've been waiting for all this time.
"I see you've met Mary Sue."
His voice purrs out of him. I feel myself melt into the seat. Taking a sip from the water in front of me; I force myself to look up, and up, and up. He is so tall, and masculine in a way that hooks me like a fish on a line.
He drops into the seat across from me, regarding me.
"She has had many lovers;" he announces solemnly, "your shifter boss, the wolf and the tiger, Bill, Sophie-Anne, Pam, Godric himself –"
"What about you?" I ask. I can't stop myself. I'm not pissy – I'm just plain curious. This night can't get any weirder.
"Yes", says Eric. His eyes slide down to the table. "I ended it, of course." He squares his shoulders. I can feel this is hard for him to say and I tense, waiting for his words.
"You see, whenever I was around her – I couldn't stop myself from smirking." He flashes me a quick look, gauging my reaction. I look at him in shock. Apparently it can.
He looks startled at the admission for a moment, and then reforms himself into the stoic stance I'm familiar with. "We have things to discuss," he says.
"You betcha" I agree. Oh, I definitely agree.