Dead in Flames
I can be as angry as i want to be
just watch me burn
i think you're way too cold
just watch and learn
- Like you better dead, In Flames

.

Alarm bells started ringing the moment she walked into the bar. I don't know quite what gave me cause for concern. She wasn't dressed in anything more offensive than a pair of low slung jeans and a deep green t-shirt but something about her scared me right out of my pants. She wasn't beautiful in that pretty kind of way that women often are but she was certainly striking and, as I was caught off guard, I could hear lust filling the minds of the men in the bar who had also noticed her. Her hair was a mass of wild vibrant red curls that tumbled down to her shoulders setting off the creamy, flawless skin of her face. Her cheekbones were almost impossibly high and seemed to slant her dark green eyes. Something about her just screamed Dangerous!

With my history it's quite understandable that I am wary of any strangers that passed through Merlotte's, especially unannounced strangers. My eyes followed the girl ... woman ... her as she took a seat in the last booth of my section. That worried me more and I decided to take a dip inside her mind to see what was lurking around there. I opened my mind directing my concentration towards the girl whose eyes were now sweeping the menu and felt my mind recoil at the fire wall in my way. I can read most humans quite easily, although telepathy is hardly an exact science. Weres are harder to read and I tended to pick up feelings and intents rather than lines of thought. Vampire minds were blank to me and faeries were almost as blank. If I had needed any more confirmation that this girl ... woman ... being wasn't human then the blazing red blankness of her mind decided it for me.

I glanced around at the patrons of the bar. Some of the men present were still taking sly glances over to where the girl was sitting even some of the women were looking over her curiously. Sam, my boss and a rare true shapeshifter, emerged from his office to serve at the bar. I caught his eye and jerked my head in the direction of the stranger. His eyes glanced over her and I watched a frown crease in his brow. He shrugged just as puzzled as I was. There was no help for it and I decided to approach her.

"What can I get you?" I asked her brightly, my nervous, manic grin stretched out across her face.

I felt as though I was standing in the firing line of laser beams when she turned her head to look up at me. Her eyes were the darkest green I had ever seen on a person, like the colour of the moss in woods at the back of my home. It was all I could do not to turn away at once and make my way back to the bar. She made me even more nervous by just looking at me for a moment. Surely she couldn't be someone else wanting to use me or harm me.

"Sure, I'll have the chicken strips," she said brightly in an accent that could have belonged to anyone in town, "and a Jack Daniels with coke."

I couldn't manage to reply in my nervous state so I just smiled widely as I took the menu from her and retreated to the bar. I had never seen this girl before in my life but she sounded as though she could have been my next door neighbour, if I had any neighbours. Her accent certainly hadn't been something I had been anticipating. That and the only people I had seen as pale as her in this neck of the woods were vampires. I was officially freaked out.

"What's wrong, Sookie?" asked Sam when I returned to the bar to put in her order.

"What is she?" I asked Sam sliding my eyes to the left to indicate the girl I had left.

"She's not human?" Sam asked. I could tell that he hadn't really thought she was but he was looking to me for confirmation.

I frowned.

"I can't read her at all," I whispered leaning into him. "Her mind is like a wall of fire. I can't even get any sense of it."

Sam seemed to grit his teeth as he watched the girl over my shoulder. I could see the way his muscles shudder with tension as he weighed up the options of why she might be present in his bar. His eyes flickered back to me.

"What could she want?" he asked me.

"A spy?" I suggested. "That FBI agent Lattesta might have put an outside source on me."

"Why would a supe do something for the FBI?" Sam asked.

I frowned now stumped. I had no idea why any supe would do something as menial as keeping as eye on me for the FBI.

"It could be ..." I began hesitantly, unhappy with the idea that I was about to present. "Victor might have sent someone other than a vampire to ... you know ... take care of me."

Sam's face moulded into the picture of rage as my suggestion sunk in. He glared at the red haired girl ... woman ... thing over my shoulder and he seemed to tremble slightly. I put my hand on his shoulder trying to calm him.

"We can't be sure," I murmured.

"Phone Eric," he hissed back. "You shouldn't have to take the risk."

I nodded as I finished pouring the coke into the glass holding a shot of Jack Daniels. I assured Sam that I would phone Eric as soon as I had given the girl her drink and checked on my tables. I nervously approached the girl once more and set the glass down in front of her. She glanced around at me from where she had been staring out of the window. There was a slight crease in her brow but she smiled brightly at me.

"Thank you," she said and took a sip of her drink as she turned to look out of the window once more.

As I checked on my other tables I tried to decide what made me so uncomfortable around her. Apart from when I took her order she had shown no interest in me whatsoever. Maybe I was just getting paranoid but then given my track record it was maybe best to be paranoid. I sneaked a quick peek over my shoulder at her as I walked back to the bar where the phone was. She was still looking out of the window.

I grabbed the phone down from the wall exchanging a quick glance with Sam. I tapped in the number for Fangtasia not bothering to go and get my cell phone from my bag so I could call Eric directly.

"Fangtasia, the bar with a bite," Pam's bored voice came over the receiver.

"Pam," I said softly hoping that the supe (if she was a supe) couldn't hear me.

"Sookie," Pam's voice immediately brightened. "Who's my favourite breather?"

"I am," I told her with a little smile whilst I rolled my eyes. "Listen could I speak to Eric please?"

"What's wrong?" she asked me immediately. My tone had been more obvious than I had thought.

"Can you just get him for me please, Pam?"

There was silence and I assumed Pam was carrying the phone to wherever Eric was sitting in the bar.

"I am here," Eric's cool voice came over the phone and just hearing his voice made me feel a lot better.

"It's Sookie," I told him softly. "Listen, there's a supe here in the bar and I have never seen anything like her, let alone seen her before."

"What about your little talent?" he asked me in a lazy tone as though I hadn't been smart enough to think about that myself but I was too scared to be annoyed at him.

"I can't read her at all," I said glancing back at the booth where the girl sat. "It's like running into a brick wall. It quite literally bounced me back."

"That is unusual. What are you afraid of?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe Victor ..."

"Don't move."

Where exactly am I going to go, I wondered as the line went dead and I hung the phone back up. I turned round expecting to see Sam and the girl was standing at the bar her empty glass in her hand. I jumped noticeably and I saw her eyebrow twitch upwards in her confusion but the next second her expression was nothing but pleasant.

"Could I get another one please?" she asked me with the same bright smile.

"Sure," I said obligingly willing my hand not to shake as I took her glass off the top of the bar and began to refill it for her. I could feel her eyes on me as I pour the Jack Daniels into the glass and then turned to add the coke. She wasn't even looking at me when I turned round and instead was staring at where Sam was talking to Jane Bodehouse at the other end of the bar.

When I placed her drink on the bar she switched her intense gaze back to me and picked it up with a smile before she turned to head back to her table. I heaved a quiet sigh of relief for the moment, hoping that Eric would arrive soon. I didn't think I could stand the tension much longer.

Eric must have flown because he was there sooner than I had expected. The girl was sitting in the corner still eating her chicken strips that Sam had gallantly taken over for me whilst I served another table. I was behind the bar pouring Jane Bodehouse another gin and tonic when Eric arrived. I immediately felt relieved as he strode in through the door his eyes alert, sweeping the room before they came to rest on him. He was by my side in an instant.

"Are you all right?" he asked concerned his blue eyes looking down at me intently. I nodded in reply folding myself into his chest. I felt so much better as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly to him.

"Where?" he said softly into my ear.

"Back, right hand corner," I told him my eyes flickering over to where the girl had not seemed to have noted Eric's presence in the bar. She was still looking out the window and for the first time I noticed the apprehensive look on her face. In a movement that almost seemed synchronised Eric turned round to look for her as she turned her head to look around the bar. They caught sight of each other at the same time.

I felt suspended in disbelief for a few moments as I watched surprise sweep the girl's face as relief rolled through the bond from Eric. The girl got to her feet her face breaking into a genuine smile which made the ones she had given me seem obviously false. She was stunning when she smiled which made me feel disgruntled.

"Eric," she exclaimed and I was so glad that it was not a busy night because she then ran across the bar and flung herself on Eric who, to my stunned surprise, gave her a very brief hug and then shoved her off.

"Phoenix, you should know better than to jump on me when you are that hot," he told her in a firm but affectionate tone. I frowned at Eric's back and then stepped out to the side to look at the girl who was grinning widely up at Eric.

"Sorry, Eric," she told him shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "You caught me off guard."

I glanced up at Eric who was eyeing her with a smirk on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her sharply.

She frowned at him and I was well aware of the bar patrons looking on with curious expressions. Even Sam was craning his head around the bar to get a look at the three of us standing by the side of the bar.

"Not here," I whispered and jerked my head to indicate that we should go out to the back.

"Phoenix," Eric addressed the girl, "come."

Eric and the girl, Phoenix, followed me through to Sam's office. I stood aside to let Eric entered the room first with the girl right behind him. I joined them in the office closing the door behind me.

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" Phoenix asked him as soon as the door was closed barely sparing me a glance. "I'm having something to eat. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to protect Sookie," Eric told her with a sweep of his fingers to indicate me standing beside him. Her eyes swept me quickly before she glanced at the door and the window with surprising speed.

"From what?" she asked a frown creasing her brow and I could see her hands clenching and unclenching rapidly.

"From you."

That surprised her and the frown was swept from her face to be replaced by a look of complete surprise. She glanced at me again as though just registering her presence before she looked back at Eric.

"I am no threat," she assured him formally.

"Of course, you are not," he replied equally formal. "I had not known it was you. Where is Lorc? Why are you here in my area?"

"Your area ..."

Finally, I had had enough of watching them like a tennis match.

"Hey," I said firmly interrupting, "are we remembering me over here?"

Both Eric and the girl, Phoenix, looked round at me almost as though they had completely forgotten about my presence in the room, or rather, forgotten that I could speak.

"Sookie, this is Phoenix Celtman," Eric introduced the wild girl before me. "Phoenix, this is my wife, Sookie Stackhouse."

I ignored the bit about me being his wife for the moment preferring to focus on the way he had pronounced her surname: Keltmin. I swept her from head to toe. She was slightly taller than me and she was looking at me expectantly.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she told me sincerely. "I am gathering you are not just an average human."

I was startled by that and the feeling shone as plain as day on my face. I saw Phoenix take a sly glance at Eric and I felt a lump of ice form in the pit of my stomach. Without my talent to my advantage I felt uncomfortable standing with Phoenix and Eric who obviously knew each other well but in what capacity I didn't know.

"What do you mean?" I asked trying hard to keep the wavering out of my voice.

Phoenix slid a look at Eric and he glared back at her.

"She means that I do not form attachments with mere humans," Eric told me taking my hand in his.

I knew what he meant. I wasn't just human but the icy feeling in my stomach seemed to intensify. I was uneasy. How did Eric know this dangerous looking girl? What was she? Hanging around with vampires had made me slightly more used to the suspense of not knowing other peoples thoughts but, not for the first time, I found myself wishing I could read what was going on in Eric's head.

"Where is Lorcan?" Eric asked Phoenix sharply as he turned to look at her once again.

Her eyes blazed for a moment her hands clenching into fists and Eric immediately grabbed me, pulling me back a step. My breath caught in my throat as I felt the fear roll through Eric and I watched Phoenix as she closed her eyes. I'd seen the expression on her face before. She was fighting for control. If I had been scared before it was nothing to the fear I felt now. What on earth could scare a vampire as strong as Eric?

"Phoenix," Eric said her name warily but he fell silent when I gripped him tightly.

The girl's eyes snapped open and for a moment they looked like flames but then her shoulders relaxed and her fists unclenched. She looked at us her green eyes now calm.

"I am in control," she told us her voice formal once again.

I relaxed my grip of Eric's shoulder allowing Eric to straighten up from his protective stance. His eyes were still wary as he looked Phoenix.

"Where is Lorcan?" he asked once more but now his tone was a lot softer.

My nails dug into the black material of his t-shirt waiting for the same reaction but in contrast Phoenix looked positively glacial at the question. I didn't think she was angry with Eric however.

"He's in New Orleans," she told us quietly, "with Victor Madden."

First ever Sookie Stackhouse fic. Part one.