"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." I said to my best friend Tara. "Look at these people."
"Sookie you never go out. You need some excitement in your life." Tara answered.
She grabbed my hand and we were headed across the parking lot to the front door of Fangtasia's. Tara had talked me into a night out on the town. I didn't go out very often especially to bars. There were two reasons for this. The first was because I worked at Merlotte's, a bar in our small community of Bon Temps. I see enough of the bar scene at work. The second was because I had a curse. I could hear people's thoughts. In a bar atmosphere it became very difficult to hold the shields I usually put up to block the thoughts.
It's not very pleasant when you have to 'hear' what everybody thinks. I didn't date because of it. Imagine going on a date and hearing what your date is always thinking. I wonder if she's a real blond. Wonder if those boobs are real. What most men think can be very crude and not always flattering. It's hard to want to get to know a guy when you can hear everything that he thinks.
We made our way to the back of the line and waited to get into the bar. The line was a collection of what are called fang bangers and tourists. These fang bangers are just what the name ensues. They are the equivalent of vampire groupies. Hanging around vampire bars and hotels offering themselves to a vampire for sex and to let the vampire feed on them. Ewe. The other people in the line were tourists and people like Tara and I who were just curious. I have wanted to meet a vampire since they revealed themselves the night of the great revelation.
The line moved fairly quickly and in no time we were at the front. The front foyer was a dark grey color with red lights. There was a very pretty blonde vampire at the podium. She was dressed in a long black dress and was checking ID and answering the questions that were thrown at her from the people in line. She asked me for my ID. I can't remember the last time I was carded.
The blonde vampire looked at my driver's license and then looked back up to me. She gave me a complete once over and apparently liked what she saw. She gave me a grin exposing fang to the pleasure of the people still in line behind us.
"Go on in Ms. Stackhouse. Enjoy yourself and maybe I will see you inside later."
Okay that was strange. I thought to myself. I had read somewhere that a vampire only exposed their fangs when they were hungry or horny. I sure hope she was just hungry.
We entered the main part of the bar then. Like the foyer it was decorated in a grey, black and red. There were framed pictures of every movie vampire you could think of. It was typical of most bars except for the posted signs saying no feeding on premises. The clientele was the same mix of fang-bangers and tourists that were in the line outside with about 15 vampires strewn out amongst them. The vampires were easy to spot. They all had a slight glow to their skin.
Tara and I approached the bar to order a drink. The bartender came over to greet us. The bartender was of Native Indian descent. He was dressed in a muscle shirt and I have to say the vampire glow with the color of his skin was beautiful but I didn't tell him that.
"What can I get you two lovely ladies this evening?" He asked while he gave us a grin exposing fang. I ordered a gin and tonic and Tara ordered a Tom Collins. The bartender was chatting with us as he made our drinks.
"My name is Long shadow." He introduced himself. "What is your name pretty lady?" he asked me.
"I'm Sookie and this is my friend Tara" I replied.
"Well Miss Sookie and Miss Tara, I hope you enjoy your evening and if there is anything I can get for you just let me know"
One of the waitresses was waiting to have her drink orders filled so Longshadow left to go mix drinks and Tara and I went to an empty booth. We sat in a corner booth where we had a view of almost the whole bar. I took the opportunity to examine all the vampires a little closer. I have to admit I found them very intriguing even though some of them were scary as hell.
The room held about 15 vampires. They were a mix of male and female and they were all surrounded by fang bangers. The only vampire that was not surrounded by a group of fang bangers was sitting on a throne on a dais at one end of the room. He was approached by tourists and fang bangers but he always sent them away. Some he simply told to leave others he kicked away from him. Who was this guy? He was a vampire and he was probably the most gorgeous man I have ever seen. He was tall and broad-shouldered. He had a thick mane of long blonde hair that hung loose around his broad shoulders and he was staring intently at me.
I looked away quickly. Embarrassed at having been caught staring. I tried to have a conversation with Tara but I was still aware of the vampire staring at me. I could feel gentle pokes at my brain and wondered if he was trying to do something to me. I had read somewhere that vampires could glamour people into doing what they wanted but I didn't think that a vampire would admit to being able to do something like that so I didn't know if it was true or not. I decided to let my shields down for a minute and see what he was trying to do besides counting my eyelashes. I was instantly hit with a barrage of thoughts from all the humans in the room. Sex, sex and more sex. I expected that but what I didn't expect was the silence that was coming from the vampire's. I couldn't "hear" a thing. If it wasn't for all the humans in the room I would be in a silent heaven. Unfortunately I'd also be alone in a room full of vampires who seemed to find me alluring for some reason.
I put my mental shields back in place and turned to tell Tara about my new discovery. I glanced over at the gorgeous hunk of a vampire. He was talking to the pretty blonde vampire that was at the door and had carded me. We had finished our drinks by then and decided that we would have one more before we headed back to Bon Temps. This was proving to be an interesting evening for me. It was about to get even more so.
A waitress came to our table with a refill on our drink orders. "These are compliments of the house. My master would like to know if he may have the pleasure of your company for a few minutes."
"Your master?" I clarified that I had heard her right. What modern self respecting woman would call any man master? I sure wouldn't. She turned her head towards the big blonde sitting on the throne. This didn't surprise me. It didn't take a lot to figure out that this vampire was important but he was also very arrogant. When I looked over at him he patted the empty seat next to him to invite me over. I couldn't resist. Even though this vampire scared the heck out of me I was also intrigued by him. I was intrigued by the silence of his brain. There was something about him that drew me in and I'm not sure what that was but I sure wanted to find out. Oh yeah did I mention that he was gorgeous.
I made my way over to where he sat on the raised dais. I sat in the chair that he indicated with my nervous smile pasted on my face. I didn't know what to say to him and he was just staring at my face, so I said the first thing I thought of. I introduced myself.
"Hi, I'm Sookie Stackhouse." I greeted him.
"Well aren't you sweet." He replied.
"Not really" I shot back. He looked surprised for a minute and then he roared with laughter. This vampire had a sense of humour. I liked that.
"What are you?" He asked me.
"I'm a woman. What are you?" I answered. I was deflecting his question because I knew what he wanted to know. He was curious as to why his glamour or whatever it was he tried earlier didn't work.
"My name is Eric. I am the vampire that owns this bar and you are no ordinary human woman."
At that moment a man walked past my chair and his arm brushed against mine. My telepathy is stronger with physical contact. This guy was a cop and he has just called in for a raid. We needed to leave now.
"Eric we need to leave right now. Your bar is about to get raided."
"There is nothing illegal going on in here. There is no need to worry."
"Yes there is. There is a vampire feeding on someone in the washroom. The man who just passed by me is an undercover cop and he has just called in a raid."
Eric stood to his magnificent height of about 6'4". He grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind him. Along the way he gestured over to where the blonde vampire from the front door was now sitting with Tara. They both got up to follow us out.
Eric led me out the door and a safe distance from the front doors of the club. I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath while I waited for Tara. Eric leaned in and put his arms on either side of my head.
"How did you know that?"
"I just knew. I don't know."
"I know that you are something more than just a human woman. I will find out what you are. I love a good challenge. We shall meet again Miss Sookie Stackhouse. You can count on it." He leaned down the rest of the way and kissed me and boy could he kiss. I felt it straight through to my toes. Then he was gone.