You've Never Seen Me At My Worst

Tally Brooks set down her suitcase on the front step of her cousin's porch and knocked on the door.

Natalie rushed up to the door and put her face against the screen. "Oh. Figured it was you. What do you want this time?"

"I'd like to be invited in for starters." Tally said in a calm voice.

"Natalie let her in." Natalie's fiancé` Kevin said from the couch in the living room.

"Come in, Tally. So what brings you to Bon Temps this time?" Natalie asked.

Tally picked up her suitcase and set it next to the staircase of the old house. "Food, a warm place to stay."

"Seriously." Natalie folded her arms.

"Business, mostly. My coffin is set up in the basement, right?" Tally asked.

"It's always set up, Tal." Natalie walked back into the kitchen and resumed her cooking.

"Thanks for letting me stay in your home, Kevin."

"No prob, Tal. Take a seat and watch the game with me." Kevin patted the spot next to him.

"I'm going to have to decline your offer. I have to head over to Shreveport tonight. Where has my car been hidden this time?" Tally asked.

"In the garage next to the truck." Natalie called from the kitchen.

"Thank you." Tally said as she reached for her car keys next to the TV.

"You're going to Fangtasia?" Kevin asked.

"Like I said; business." She said simply and walked out the door. Once she was out in the warm Louisiana night air she ran to the garage and retrieved her silver Honda FC Sport.

[i]"Why does she have to always be around?" Natalie whined as she sat next to Kevin on the couch.[/i]

[i]"You're her only living relative, Nat. She has no one else and nowhere else to go. Plus, she could kill either one of us faster than her mother was hung at the Salem Witch Trials." Kevin put his arm around Natalie who still sat with her arms folded with a pouting face.[/i]

"My mother died a slow and painful death, mind you." Tally mumbled under her breath as she got into the car and drove off.

Half an hour later Tally arrived at the notorious vampire bar. "One scratch on her and I'll suck you alive." she warned the valet.

"Ah, Tally. How nice to see you again." Pam greeted her at the entrance.

"Nice to see you as well, Pamela. Where is Eric?"

"He's in Dallas with Bill and his human. Didn't you hear?" Pam asked.

"Hear what?"

"They found Godric."

"That's good news, very good news. I suppose you're the one who will be supplying me with my money then?" Tally shoved past Pam and into the nightclub.

All the humans in the club turned and stared at Tally as she walked through the kitchen door and into the backroom where Eric kept his money.

"Wait! You can't take it while he's not here!" Pam zoomed into the room after her.

"Sure I can, he owes me." Tally smirked and sat down in the leather chair.

"I'll talk to him when he gets back. In the meantime I suggest you leave before you start trouble." Pam glared at her. Tally stood up and left the room.

"I want my money before the end of the week. I can't waste anymore time here in this podunk little town." She slammed the door as she made her way back to her car.

oo

"I don't want Tally coming here anymore! She can get her own house! I'm tired of being a maid to that damn vampire cousin of mine!" Natalie yelled as she threw Tally's suitcase out in the front yard.

"Now Nat, be nice! You're all she has left, you can't just abandon her!" Kevin picked up the suitcase and put it back in the house.

"No! No more!" Natalie threw it back out.

"I'll be taking my leave then." Tally grabbed her suitcase and put it in the trunk of her car. "Thank you for all your past hospitality, Natalie."

"Now wait a goddamn minute, you!" Natalie stormed down the porch steps and pointed her finger in Tally's face. "Don't be little miss sunshine to me! I know how you really are! All those years of Mama favoring you over me just because you were prettier and polite and always dressed nicely, you never once got dirty and everyone just loved you! I'm sick of being compared to all my life! I'm sick of having you come into my home and use me and my fiancé` as a doormat!"

Tally bared her fangs and grabbed Natalie's neck. "Dear Natalie, I never meant to have your mother favor me over you! How could you be jealous over me when I've been sixteen for 317 years! How could I possibly be favored when your parents hated vampires! They thought I was an evil demon from hell! If anything I was the unwanted and unloved one! Do you have any idea how lonely being a vampire is? I only lived with your family for two years yet you hate me like I lived with you for a hundred! And don't you dare say I was never dirty because you have never seen me at my worst." Natalie was dropped to the ground as Tally sped off into the night.