I've had only one close-to-death experience, but I think that was enough for my whole life. When you know that in the woods around you there is someone who wants to kill you and you have to fight for your life is something that you hardly ever forget. Here is my story of how I nearly got killed last spring.

I was working as a barmaid at a bar called Stupor. I liked my job pretty much, besides my boss being a professional asshole. He actually was rude to his employees and nearly to everyone who was under his control. His name was Eric, Eric Northman. He had moved here, to Louisiana a couple of years ago to open a bar and it had become very gainful as he had hired all the pretty girls around, looking for a job (including me). Eric was a really good looking guy – blue eyes, shoulder-length blond hair, 195 cms tall and a muscular body- and that made all the girls turn around when they saw him, which made his ego bigger than himself. I never liked him, but he always made it clear, that he wanted me to go out with him, maybe for one night only, like he had done to the others. Every time I refused his request he had become a lot more obnoxious with me for about two weeks.

The whole killing-thing started on the 1st of April. When I went to work everyone was in a good mood, not just because Eric hadn't arrived, but because everybody was tricking each other with funny things. That was why we didn't recognise the seriousness of the situation when the police arrived about an hour before we usually opened the bar. Everyone laughed when they started to say that they had a few questions for us. That was when Boss arrived and shouted at us for nearly fifteen minutes that how serious the incident was. About ten minutes later all my colleagues knew that one of the barmaids, called Aveda, was raped ant then killed the night before. That was the first. About three days later one of my best friends and colleagues, Lynda was murdered probably by the same person. The next was one day after her funeral; I was the one who found the body when I went to her house to have someone to share my grief with. After that Eric called us in that midnight and said: "After all this I expect everyone to be very careful. Not because I care about you, but because I don't have more barmaids to replace the dead ones. Understood?" All of us nodded, but fury was staring to bubble inside me so I followed him into his office and as soon as I got in there I slapped him across the face. He stared at me wide-eyed when he realised what I had done and was about to start to shout at me when I began screaming at him:"How dare you talk about the others like this? They were good and caring girls with family who was tragically murdered not 'the dead ones'. All of them were your ex- lovers, but that doesn't matter right? The only thing that matters is yourself and that's why I 'm never going to go out with you. Never, understood?" I was about to slap him again when he grabbed my wrists and pushed me against the wall, his face only a few centimetres from mine, his blue eyes gazing into mine with fury. When he started to speak his voice was calm, which made him more frightening. " For first, they will be dead no matter how I call them and I have all rights to call them how I wish to call them. The second is that you have nothing to do with my personal life and my ex-lovers and I care about others. And third: I always get what I want. Always!" With the last word he kissed me roughly, constricting my wrists as he expected me to try to fight against him or to try to slap him again. But I didn't. Gosh, he could kiss magnificently, and I kissed him back. But after a few seconds, when he didn't release my wrists, just held them more tightly my brain warned me, that the killer hadn't been found jet, and he could be that sociopath too. Just as I was starting to panic, he released me and looked at me with victory in his eyes. I didn't wait him to say anything, just rushed out of his office, got into my car, and drove home. I was so distracted about what happened that I had forgotten to close the door when I got home, which later was proved to be a big mistake.

I woke up at about two o'clock am. I didn't know what had woken me, but my survival instincts were screaming that something was wrong. I had been able to sense the presence of the people in the house with me since I was a child, so I could easily figure out, that someone was in my house. I slowly opened the account of my bedside, and realised, that the handgun which I always kept there was gone. That really frightened me. I knew, that whoever was in my house, wanted to kill me, and my gun getting lost meant, that the killer had been in my house before, and took it. I reached my mobile and took it into my pyjama's pocket. I slowly got on my feet, and beetled towards the window. It was about four metres from the ground, so I quickly threw out my mattress – which I kept under the window in case of emergencies – and jumped on it. I ran into the forest, which surrounded my house and climbed on a tree. I tried not to gasp for air because of the shock, when I saw Lynda's brother race into the forest after me. My anger and the adrenaline made me fight my survival instincts and jump on his back, when he was under the tree, I was sitting on. I landed on him, but I didn't expect him to react before I could decide what to do next. He grabbed my ankles and pinned me under him, his eyes were full of madness and he held his gun to my heart. I was afraid. I knew I was going to die, but I thought I had a right to know what I was going to die for, so I asked it. "Why are you doing this? Why are you killing the barmaids from Stupor? Why did you kill you own sister? Why?" I was on the edge of crying, but I tried to keep myself together. He shouted the answer at me: "Because all of you are the whores of your boss. I had dated Aveda, but she cheated me. You can guess with whom. And then I heard that my own sister was going out with him; I decided to punish him and all of his lovers. I expected him to grief or at least be a suspect, but that hasn't happened. Jet. So I've decided to kill all of his bartender-lovers. And when all of you are dead he will get a letter from Anonymous, to realise, that he was the cause of all the deaths and so he would have to live with the guilt. Forever! So, good-bye sweetie." I had only a second to move so the gun hit my shoulder, not my heart. Pain tore through my body, and I screamed loudly, hoping someone would hear it. Ironic that my closest neighbour was Eric and I doubted that if he hears me he would help me, so my last hope fated. I set free my right hand, and punched him with all the force I had. He dropped the gun and touched his nose, screaming. I picked up the pistol, and hit him on the head with it, then started to run. I wasn't fast enough and I knew it. I was losing blood and could hardly stay conscious, when somebody caught me. From the sudden adrenaline rush I started to fight him, but the managed to hold me tightly and take the gun out of my hand. I was about to start screaming when I heard his voice and that was the first time I was happy hearing it. "Shhh… It's me. It's Eric, you are safe now. What has happened?" I started to cry and tried to manage to explain what had happened. "I…was so afraid… Lynda's brother… tried to kill me…He will be here soon…We need to get away!" I was screaming the last sentence and sobbing hysterically. I felt the stupor overwhelming my body, and then nothing…

When I woke up my first thought was that my shoulder hurt. The next was that my head hurt too. And then all the memories of the nearly–death thing came back and I felt my head hurt more. I tried to open my eyes and the first thing I saw was Eric lying on a bed next to me, his eyes closed and an infusion tube was fastened to his left arm. My first thought was that he was injured too, but soon I realised that he was giving blood. I was confused. Who was he giving blood to? He didn't seem to be such a charitable person to donate blood when he has a chance, and he made it clear that he didn't care about me. Did he? Why did he save me the night before if he hadn't cared about me then? I closed my eyes again. Nothing made sense, and that made my head hurt more. "She is awake. Thank you Mr. Northman, I can assure you that that amount of blood will be enough for her." I heard a harsh lady voice say, and then she pulled up my eyelids and lit into them with a small lamp. I moaned in protest. "How are you feeling Miss?" the nurse asked. "A little tired, but I'm fine" I lied. "All right then call me if you need something." And just like that, she left. Eric sat down next to my bedside and held my hand. I had to remind myself, that he had just saved me and gave me his blood, so not jell at him about the whole he-always-gets-what-he-wants-thing." Thank you" I said under my breath.

"You're welcome." He was smiling widely, his ocean-blue eyes burning into mine. I felt the urge to kiss him and that was a new feeling. 'He is an asshole.' I reminded myself, no matter, that he saved my life. "What had happened?" I asked. His smile faded and he looked at me with sorrowful eyes. "You were attacked and shot. I heard your scream and knew that probably you were the next to be killed, so I ran into the forest to help you. That's when you rushed into me. I was glad that you were alive. I called the police and took you into my house to see how much you were injured, and then took you to hospital. The police officers found him and took him to the police. He was so mad at you that he admitted everything. The doctors said that you had lost a lot of blood and you are lucky to be alive" When he finished he squeezed my hand. I asked the next question before I could think about it. "Why have you given your blood to me?" He smiled again. "I've already told you that I care about other people, and our blood type matched, so I gave some to you. You were attacked because of me anyway." He looked guilty – I had never seen him looking guilty - and I was angry that Lynda's brother got what he wanted. "I think there is another reason beside guilt, that you gave me your blood." I said before I could stop myself. "Maybe." He said pushing his lips gently against mine.

The End

AN:Soooooo what do you think about it? Please review!