Chapter Two

We arrived in Bon Temps early the next evening and checked into a motel right outside town.

"Great, just great. The TV doesn't work in my room," Emmett grumbled as he plopped down on the foot of our bed.

"Really, Emmett? That is the very least of our worries here," Edward snapped back. He was pacing back and forth across the room, hands stuffed in his pockets and a deep furrow in his brow. Emmett just shrugged, reached for the remote and turned the television on.

"Porn, Porn, Televangelists, more Porn…" Emmett flipped through the channels. He looked at Edward and then back at me, smirking,"You know, you guys shouldn't watch any of this stuff, Esme still hasn't forgiven you for the damage you two did to her house on the island, she would really be livid if you tore this motel room apart. "

I chucked a pillow at his head. He ducked right in time, of course.

"Shut it, Emmett! You pervert…remember our little deal? I beat you at arm wrestling; therefore you are not allowed to comment on my sex life anymore. "Emmett just rolled his eyes, I chucked another pillow in his direction, with more force this time, the pillow flew right over his head and hit Edward straight in the face. He stumbled backwards a few steps before regaining his footing.

"Would you two stop it?! This is not the time for games!"Edward yelled, tossing his arms up in the air. I failed to suppress my giggles and ended up on the floor along with Emmett, laughing uncontrollably.

"How can you two even laugh right now?!" Edward fumed. He then stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. About five seconds later Jasper, Alice and Rosalie entered the room.

"What is his problem?" Alice asked.

"He is just stressed, he doesn't want to be here." I answered with a sigh, "Jasper, what good are your mood control powers if you don't use them?"

"Well, Bella, quite honestly I find it hard to control even my own moods at the moment, I can't say I want to be here anymore than he does."

I nodded and frowned, "Yes, well none of us really want to be here."

"Which is exactly why we need to make the best of it, we are here, so let's go out,"Alice smiled and twirled around in a circle where she stood, then half skipped, half danced her way across the floor towards Rosalie, "What do you say, Sis? Up for a little country line dancing?"

Alice hooked her arm onto Rosalie's elbow, "Now grab your partner, round and round-"

Rosalie yanked her arm away.

"No, Alice, I don't think that is such a good idea!" Rosalie and Jasper both exclaimed in unison.

"Oh, come ON!" Alice pleaded, glancing around at the rest of us, a hopeful look in her catlike eyes. She twirled over to Jasper, throwing her lithe arms around his neck, "Jas' love…please? It would be so much fun." She planted a kiss on his nose and made a pouty face.

"Oh alright, let's go. You're never going to give up anyway," Jasper sighed. Alice squealed with delight, "I always get my way."

"Great, just awesome," Rosalie grumbled.

Alice pulled me up off of the bed, "Come on Bella, let's find something trashy to wear," she giggled.


We pulled up to Merlotte's Bar and Grill just after nightfall, the locals had highly recommended this place. It was a busy Friday night, surely we would be able to get in some good observations, as well as let loose just a little.

"Bella, I don't like this…I have a bad feeling about this place," Edward said when we got out of the car.

"Edward, relax. Let's dance and have a good time. I can't believe you would want to pass up a rare opportunity to get me to dance," I smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. I sensed him warming a little, a grin formed on his lips.

"Okay, but don't you think people will be suspicious? I mean, It is a bar…we can't order anything to drink."

"We can order some of that True Blood stuff," Emmett chuckled. Rosalie socked him in the arm, "Absolutely not, we will not order any of that shit! We are supposed to be playing human, remember?"

"No, no, actually I think Emmett is right, it would be much easier to act like we are just the old run-of- the-mill vampires that hang out around here. These humans won't know the difference, we will be able to drink the synthetic blood, it just won't provide us any sustenance," Jasper said.

"I don't know about that Jasper," Edward added, shaking his head.

"It would be less suspicious, there are thousands of vampire's in this area, we look just like the rest of them," Emmett said.

"These vampires stay in special rooms during the day, with sun-blocking accommodations. We aren't even staying in a motel that offers those kinds of accommodations," Edward exclaimed.

"Bro, we aren't even staying in town, so nobody will know, or even care to know that we aren't staying in a vampire suite. Besides, we can't go out in the sunlight here anyways, it is much too bright."

"I actually agree," I added, avoiding Edward's incredulous stare, I kept my eyes glued to the ground kicking the gravel around with my shoes.

"Okay, so we will be out vampires tonight, " Edward laughed, surprising all of us.

"Come on babe, let's dance." There was a fiery look in his eye, l was glad he was able to let go of all the weight on his shoulders and worry on his mind for just one night. You know, have fun for a change. Edward rarely did fun.

Edward grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the bars entrance. The rest followed suit.

"Carlisle and Esme are going the rip us to pieces," Rosalie hissed as we entered the bar.


The place was everything one would expect a small town bayou bar to be… tacky, loud, and wonderful. We got a booth in the corner. Would you believe that "My Achy Breaky Heart" was actually blaring through the speakers? This place was almost too cliché.

I pretty blonde waitress came prancing up to our table.

"Hey ya'll, my name's Sookie and I will be your waitress for the night. What can I get for ya?"

"Well, how about-"

"Oh my word, never mind…of course!" She interrupted Edward and pointed at each one of us, "Let's see, one…two…three…six bottles of True Blood!" she said, with an excited grin on her face.

Emmett looked at Rosalie, "See babe, I told ya so."

"Um, yes…that would be great," Edward told the waitress. I noticed that he had a look of slight dismay on his face.

"Now we have O+or A-,"

We all remained silent for a bit to long before I piped in,"Uh, O+ for the lot of us, thanks."

"No problem," she exclaimed merrily, "Be right back with that."

"Wow, good thing we decided to not play human, they are most definitely not easily fooled around here," Emmett whispered.

"Is everything all right, Edward?" I asked softly, squeezing his hand below the table.

"No," he answered blankly.

"That waitress…is rather strange. Her thoughts…I heard everyone else's thoughts in her head… she can read their minds. She can read everyone's minds, except for vampires. That is how she knew. "

"How interesting," Alice added.

"Interesting is not exactly the word I would use," Edward sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Just then, the waitress showed up with our bottles of true blood, smiling. She sure smiled A LOT.

"So where are ya'll from?" She had the most pleasant southern drawl.

"Uh, Texas," I lied.

"Wow, Texas vamps? That is strange, did you just move to Texas?"

"No, why?" Edward glared at her.

"Well, you see I know a lot of Texas vampires, and you all seem so different. Besides, I did not see you when I was there just last month, and I saw about all the area's vampires when I was there, you see-"

Edward raised his hand up and stopped her, "Yes, uh…The Fellowship of the Sun incident, we were out of town visiting old friends in uh…Washington State."

We all looked at him curiously.

"Ah, well that explains it, but ya'll still seem different." Sookie shrugged and gave Edward a strange look.

"Well enjoy your evening and just holler if you need anything else." With that she spun around and walked away quickly.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"I read her thoughts, she is in very close with the vampires here, she is suspicious of us, she knows something is off about us, we should go," Edward said.

"Absolutely not, I want to dance," Alice whined, "She is just a silly little human, Edward. Stop being so paranoid!"

"A silly little human that can read people's minds?" Edward retorted. Alice rolled her eyes and grabbed Jasper's hand. They disappeared onto the dance floor.

I winked at Edward.

"Come on, don't worry so much, let's have fun just for tonight, we are out vampires after all," I giggled. Edward's mood lightened a little.

"Come on then," he smirked as he pulled me to the dance floor.