A.N: So, this is me trying my hand at True Blood fanfiction community! Hi everyone! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, True Blood belongs to the HBO and Charlaine Harris, and any resemblance between my OC's and real persons, dead or undead is purely coincidental. I also don't own the title.

PS: Rating will probably change :) For now, I'm just testing waters:D

Spoilers: The plot starts from 2nd season

"I love my job, I love my job, I love my job…" I muttered to myself as I drummed my fingernails on the steering wheel, checking the rear mirror while turning the radio.

The meeting today for the marriage law between vampires and humans is going to take place at seven-

The protests in the rural area of-

Nan Flanagan has stated this will be a major development in vampire human –

While a lot of couples have already applied for-

While the gossip of hunters-" I frowned, turning up the volume "That has been sent to different states in concern of these protests seem to be very popular among the vampires, there has not been any pronouncements from the government. The clans seem to keep their silence, but as long as hunters are involved, we can be sure that sooner or later, an announcement will be made. Now onto the road condition-

"Great…" I muttered, looking for a decent radio station "Aren't we mysterious…"

As much as I could speak for my own clan, we did not like to share secrets. You could say it was because of the traditions, or government, but I call it out of respect. For both alive and undead.

And yet press seems to like to twist the stories very much.

Here's the thing, although the vampires have not been out of the coffins for too long, -at least publicly- some clans all around the world had been raising and training the hunters for centuries. So when vampires made themselves known to the world, the government thought, why not use the clans for their own benefit?

So, we were hired for the government. Well, at least after going through different facilities, different tests, different experiments…

Now, we couldn't start any fight against vampires –complicated diplomatic stuff- but we did know how to fight, and protect –contrary to people's common belief about how we're brainwashed into killing vampires-. Especially in clan we were taught to protect mortal and immortal from each other. In both sides.

Well, we did lean towards one side more, but still…

As far as the job goes we also had to check up on vampires where they formed as groups and observe, and interfere if something happened, hence the Welcome To Louisiana sign I had just left behind.

Yep, I pulled the short straw.

Whatever. Southern hospitality, right?

I was pulled out of my thoughts when my phone started ringing and I reached out, then answered it

"Hello?"

"Hey Val."

"Hey there." I smiled almost instantly at my friend's voice "What's up Connor?"

"In Texas already. You?"

"About to arrive the house." I heaved a sigh "Fun."

"You have no idea. But hey, it's just for a year."

"Yep." I muttered as I looked around, and pulled over

"Hey, did the director call you yet?"

I frowned "No." I said "Why? Did he call you?"

"Yeah, to learn if I got here."

"As if the GPS they put in the cars don't show it." I said and he chuckled

"And to learn if I saw something out of ordinary."

"In the daylight?" I asked "What do they expect? Vampires to walk in the sun and tell us 'Welcome hunters! Rawr!'?"

He chuckled "Right… Workaholic paranoid, I'm telling you. He should go and get laid or something."

I snickered "Gotta go and unpack, talk to you later?"

"Yeah."

"Try not to knock anyone up!"

"I'll try!" he said and hung up. Me on the other hand just stared out of the window, and pushed open my door. I grabbed the keys from my pocket and unlocked the front door, then stepped into the house.

"Nice…" I muttered, taking a look into the house. A living room with furnitures, a kitchen, and I guessed the bedroom was upstairs. I treaded inside silently, trying to make the view feel familiar to me. If I was going to spend a year here, I had better got used to it sooner.

I walked outside to get my luggage and boxes from my trunk, then walked back inside again. After putting them down, I took out my knife and closed the door, then scratched a little symbol –the symbol of my clan- to under the doorknob. I walked to the luggage, opened it and took out one of the items my grandmother had given me for protection, and placed it beside the door.

"One more thing…" I muttered to myself and took a pot from the boxes, went to the the kitchen and turned the tap on. While the pot was being filled, I walked outside and looked around to find any weed on the garden.

Great.

I picked a yellow, dead leaf up and then reached out and plucked a green one from the tree. I walked to the kitchen, turned the tap off and placed the pot onto the counter.

"For the dead…" I muttered, putting the dead leaf into the water "The alive-" I put the green leaf into the water as well and took out my necklace. After pricking my finger with my knife, I smeared the blood onto necklace

"And the hunter." I whispered, dropping it into the water. I walked to the porch, and after murmuring an ancient prayer my grandmother had taught me into the water, I spilled it onto the porch, careful to reach every side of it. When it was done, I put the pot aside and bent down to pick up the leaves and my necklace, but I paused when I caught the side of the dead leaf.

"What the…"

The necklace was on the dead leaf, and when I picked it up, I saw that the blood I had smeared onto necklace was smeared on the dead leaf too. While the green leaf was completely clear, the dead leaf looked more reddish, because of the that.

A shiver ran down my spine and I tried not to think about how bad this omen was. I put the leaves onto ground and put my necklace on, my hands shaking slightly.

"Okay…" I told to myself "Calm. It's nothing."

I was startled when my phone started ringing and I took it out of my pocket, clearing my throat

"Hello?"

"Miss Warren."

I straightened my back out of the habit "Yes sir."

"Have you arrived?"

"Yes sir, I was just… doing the rituals of my clan before unpacking." I said, touching my necklace

"Have you seen anything unusual?"

"No sir." I answered "I was thinking of blending in with the people, then going to-" I frowned trying to remember the name. When I couldn't, I searched my pockets and found the piece of paper I was looking for "To Fangtasia to see if anything is unusual. Not to mention there has been 25 complaints of feeding off unwilling people for the last month in that bar."

"Good thinking." He said "Try not to blow your cover, but do not let this limit your actions. I trust you to know the difference."

I nodded "Yes sir."

"And Warren?"

"Yes sir?"

"Check out your basement."

I frowned slightly "Yes sir." I said and he hung up. I took a deep breath and entered the house, then went downstairs to the basement. As soon as I opened the door, I let out a whistle

There were countless stakes, weapons and a big screen –probably for briefings and such- on the walls. I could see a colloidal silver spray at the top of the door and a bottle of maenad blood, also water with silver bits on the shelves. The bed at the corner had silver chains all around it, and I let out a laugh without really feeling like it.

"Kinky."

After unpacking, I went out to porch and sat down onto a step. I pulled a cigarette and lit it, then inhaled deeply, closing my eyes.

I was all alone, once again.

It wasn't like I minded. Really. I could barely remember what not being alone felt like anyways. I knew what would happen once I accepted to work as a hunter, but…

The memory of blood and a loud scream flashed through my brain and I opened my eyes taking another drag, and blew out, watching the smoke dance in the air before disappearing.

The past is a dominatrix bitch with a whip.

I tried to shake off the thoughts. I was in a calm, southern village, probably the thing that would bother me the most would be my boredom. It was safe, and silent.

A nice town with nice people, away from…

Horror.

I was pulled away from my thoughts as I heard footsteps coming closer and raised my head. A blonde guy was approaching me with a covered plate in his hands. The instincts kicked in and I slowly reached for the stake in my boots, but did not move, just stayed on alert.

Southern hospitality, Southern hospitality…

"Hi, um… I'm Jason Stackhouse." He said, stopping in front of me, looking extremely uncomfortable "My-uh… I ain't no pervert, don't get me wrong, my- uh, my sister saw you moving in earlier this morning, and… she thought since you just moved in you might not have anything to eat, and she made you something, but had to go to work so-" he waved the plate in his hand rather hard and almost dropped it, but managed to catch it again "If you're hungry…"

I felt a smile warm my face and stubbed the cigarette, then stood up

"Hi," I said, taking the plate from him so that we could shake hands "I'm Valeria Warren. It's very nice to meet you."

"You too." He said "So I should probably leave, and.. um, enjoy them." He nodded at the plate and I shook my head

"You wanna sit?" I asked "I'm willing to share."

"Yeah sure." He said a little too quickly and I sat down, then he sat beside me

"Cucpcakes!" I cheered when I uncovered the plate "Your sister is very kind, please tell her I said thank you… I was actually starving." I grabbed one and took a bite "And I didn't know where people ate here so…"

"Well, there's Merlotte's, Sookie works there." Jason said "My sister, I mean."

"Oh."

Merlotte's... I made a mental note Alrighty.

"So what brought you here?" he said as he grabbed a cupcake "Where are you from?"

"Um…Washington." I made up a lie

He whistled "Why did you come here?"

"Well…" I took another bite and took some time to think as I chewed "I needed a vacation." I shrugged "You know? To…get away from stuff. To relax, and calm down…"

Now to think of it, it wasn't a complete lie. I did need to get away, after my last case.

"Well you came to the right place." He said "Bon Temps is calm. Especially after Washington I guess."

I nodded slowly "Yeah." I muttered and he shifted beside me

"So you've got any…company here? Parents?"

I shook my head

"Any boyfriend or husband?"

I let out a laugh "I don't get those." I said "It's just me."

And shiny new weapons.

"You know what?" I told him "We need alcohol with these cupcakes. You know where we can get it?"

He raised his brows, then grinned

"Merlotte's."

"Terrific. Let me just grab my keys."

Okay, one thing about Southern hospitality?

It kinda sucks after a point.

For example, when you go to a group of middle aged women for information about town's approach on vampires and vampires' approach to humans, you somehow find yourself in the middle of a completely irrelevant conversation.

"So you're here by yourself?"

"Yes ma'am. What do you think of the policy of-"

"Your parents must be very upset that you have left."

"No, they're fine. I was saying-"

"Are you seeing anyone?"

"Not really, um, has there been any attacks-"

"Oh you will love our boys here!"

God, if you could send a sniper to kill me right now… Or a lightning could work too, if you want to keep things natural…

"I can introduce you to my son, he is a real sweetheart-" I glanced at Jason who was talking with someone, begging for help. He grinned and approached me

"Excuse us-" he said and grabbed me by the arm, then steered me towards the table.

"Phew. You guys weren't kidding about the hospitality."

"We take it serious here." He joked as I took a spot "And we don't get many newcomers…"

"I can see that." I laughed "So, what's your story?"

Jason sipped his beer and shrugged

"Born here, grew up here." He said "Yours?"

"Complicated." I shrugged this time and he huhed

"Is that because you moved in here?"

"Why do you think I moved here?"

"I guess it's got to do something with a dude."

I let out a laugh "Right… Because everything begins and ends with relationships."

"For chicks, yeah."

I shook my head slightly "I don't believe in love." I stated "I believe in… survival. Which is kind of the same thing for some people."

"Cheers to that." He clinked his beer bottle with mine and I sipped my drink, then blanked out.

A puddle of blood. Screams. The burning, agonizing pain…

The sound of the stake penetrating the flesh and sticky blood on my face-

I turned my head as someone dropped a glass

"Sookie?" Jason said

She just stared at me, shocked and turned to the guy approached her.

"I tripped, my fault." She said "I'm sorry."

"That's Sookie?" I asked and he nodded. I waved at her

"Thanks so much for the cupcakes!" I said, smiling and she smiled back, then turned around to go to the kitchen.

"Huh."

"Weird…"

After couple of hours and countless beers, I decided to go home and Jason came with me.

"I told you I wouldn't sleep with you so you didn't need to come all this way with me." I stated as soon as I got to the porch, with him behind me.

"Really? After so many beers?"

I let out a laugh "It's not about you, really, it's um… complicated chick stuff." I said "Thanks for the cupcakes, Jason." I kissed him on the cheek, and turned around to enter the house. After closing the door and locking it behind me, I stretched my body, letting out a groan

So far, nothing…

No info, no anything.

My boss is gonna kill me.

I pulled my hair into a ponytail, and started stripping my weapons. I pulled a silver brass knuckles from the waist of my jeans along with my gun. After putting them onto the table, I pulled the stakes from my boots, then flung myself onto the couch.

Then, someone knocked on the door rather hard.

"What the…" I grabbed my gun, walked to the door, and half opened it.

"Sookie?"

"Lady, if you think you can come here to hunt vampires you've got another thing coming!" she said angrily and I raised my brows, still hiding the gun behind me

"What?"

"You can't just think every vampire is bad just because something happened to you-" before she could finish her sentence, I had already pointed the gun at her

"How do you know about that?" I asked and she gawked at the gun, then me

"Never mind how I know it! We- the town's people do not have any complaints to-"

"Sookie." I cut her off "How do you know about that? You have exactly three seconds, or I'm gonna start shooting."

She clenched her jaw

"I-" she heaved a sigh "I saw it in your mind, at Merlotte's."

"You saw it in my mind." I repeated and she nodded

"And I'm supposed to believe that."

"I don't care what you believe or not. Now you listen to me, if you stake any harmless vampire just because they're vampires-"

"How did you see it in my mind?"

"I have a talent." She said and I eyed her up and down, then threw my head back and let out a groan

"Seriously?!" I burst out "You're a telepath?! I came across a telepath on my first day?! Really?!"

"You know about telepaths?" she asked, suddenly distracted and I heaved a sigh, then opened the door wider

"If you're gonna keep yelling…" I trailed off and walked into the house, and she followed me inside, then paused when she saw me putting the gun onto table, along with the weapons

"Just as I thought- if you think you can kill vampires just because-"

"Sookie!" I cut her off "I can't just go and kill vampires like that, okay? My bosses would kill me, not to mention-"

My clan.

"Your clan?"

"Stop reading my mind!" I said, running a hand over my face and she frowned

"Wait you're on of those hunters aren't you?" she asked "Raised by clans, hired by government."

"Bingo. Bureoucracy would give me hell if I just went off and killed vampires like that." I said "I'm just here for the usual checkings and observe. I'm not planning to kill anyone, just..to make sure it's under control, okay?" I paused "And I need to keep my cover, so if you tell anyone…"

"I won't tell anyone as long as you don't hurt anyone."

I shrugged "Sounds good to me. I still have your cupcakes, want some?"

She thought for a second "Will you tell me what I need to know or will I get it from your mind?"

I heaved a sigh and walked to the kitchen "I'm making coffee." I said "It's gonna be a long night."

A.N2: So, what do you think? Please tell me your opinions, comments, parts you liked, parts you didn't like, constructive criticism, ideas anything! =) I need to hear them!;)