The Adventures of the Salvatore Brothers
Chapter Two
Lunch At Merlotte's
"Damon Salvatore?" Sookie repeated with confusion in her voice. "How do you know his name?" Sookie asked with curiosity.
"He was a second Lieutenant that we picked up after the Battle of Missionary Ridge. We thought he was a threat and almost shot him until he revealed that he was on our side and that he was separated from his company so my company took him in."
"How can you remember his name after so long?"
"After our Capitan and Corporal were killed during the Battle of Bean's Station under our General's orders we took over one of our divisions. We managed to get our division around the Union's left flank which lead to our victory." Bill explained to Sookie.
Sookie looked down and let everything that Bill had told her sink in. "But Bill...." Sookie started then looked up at Bill. "What happened to him?"
"I do not know what he has become." Bill told Sookie. "He went on leave in the year before the war had ended and never came back." He continued.
"Do you have any idea what he might be?" Sookie asked hoping that Bill would have some sort of idea.
"No I do not." Bill admitted.
Sookie looked down to hide her disappointment. Then looked up at Bill again. "Do you think Eric might know?" She asked.
"He might." Bill reluctantly admitted.
Sookie looked at the clock on the wall and realized it was almost dawn and that they wouldn't have time to go to Shreveport. "Maybe we can ask him as soon as I get off work." Sookie suggested to Bill.
"He's going to want something in return for his help." Bill said hoping to change Sookie's mind. The last thing Bill wanted to do was ask for Eric's help.
"I don't care what he wants Bill. Whatever Damon is he almost killed me tonight." Sookie said, upset that Bill didn't have much concern about anything that happened that night.
"Very well. We will go to Eric and ask for his assistance.....I will come get you as soon as it gets dark out."
"Okay." Sookie agreed.
Bill looked at the clock then back at Sookie and grabbed her hands. "I'm sorry Sookie but it's almost dawn...."
"I understand." Sookie said nodding and standing up with Bill and lead him to the front door.
"I'll see you as soon as it gets dark." Bill assured her then kissed her. "Goodnight Sookie."
"Goodnight Bill." Sookie said as she watched Bill leave. She then headed upstairs to her room and got into her nightwear so should get some sleep and try to make sense of everything that happened that night.
Damon was up before his brother. He went to the microwave and got out a bottle of True Blood for his brother and heated it up. Stefan woke up as soon as Damon finished heating the bottle and was walking back to their beds.
"Morning Stef."
"Damon. What are you doing?"
"I heated you up some fake blood so you can start your morning off right." Damon said while handing the bottle to Stefan.
"Why?" Stefan asked as he sat up in his bed.
"It's my way of apologizing for almost killing someone last night." Damon said still holding out his arm waiting for Stefan to take the bottle.
"You can apologize all you want Damon it doesn't fix anything."
"Listen Stefan." Damon started as he put the bottle down on the bedside table since Stefan still refused to take it from him. "I like this town a lot, and I want to stay here."
"Maybe you should have thought about that before you nearly killed someone." Stefan interrupted.
"Maybe we should just keep a low profile for a while. Wait for things to settle down then we can run through the streets screaming 'We're Vampires!'"
"What happens then? You just starve? I wont stay here and watch you kill more people."
"I'm not going to kill anyone. I promise."
Stefan thought if he should believe Damon or not. After all he's broken his promises before why stop now? He thought about it for about half a minute more when he reached for the bottle of True Blood on the bedside table. "So how do you plan to keep a low profile?" Stefan said as he took a sip of his True Blood.
Damon smiled, satisfied that Stefan was seeing things his way. "Well you can start by not ordering True Blood anywhere and only buying it in the stores. You can always say you're buying it for your Vampire girlfriend or something."
"To lessen suspicion that we're the ones who attacked the girl in the parking lot." Stefan said taking another sip of his True Blood.
"Exactly." Damon said walking over to his bag and pulling out his black leather jacket.
"Are you going somewhere?" Stefan asked his brother with curiosity.
Damon looked at the clock and saw it was almost lunch time. "We are going out." Damon said putting on his jacket and checked himself in the mirror.
"Where are we going?" Stefan asked with confusion in his voice.
"While I was out feeding last night I saw this nice looking Bar and Grill called Merlotte's. I figured we could go there and have some lunch and see if we can see ourselves living here amongst the towns people for eternity." Damon said turning away from his reflection and looking at Stefan.
"What happened to keeping a low profile?" Stefan said finishing off his True Blood then walked across the room to throw away the bottle.
"Well we can't just hide in here all the time. That will make people curious and want to find us more then they already do. If we go out every once in while we wont be such strangers to theses fine people." Damon said trying to convince Stefan to get out of the hotel.
"What are you up to Damon?" Stefan said in a serious tone matched with an equally serious expression. "Apologizing by heating me up a bottle of True Blood and now you want to make friends with the town?"
"I try to be a better person and you automatically think I'm up to something?" Damon said gesturing to himself.
"You can't be a good person Damon. I gave up on that a long time ago."
Damon faked a hurt expression then put his hand on his chest. "That hurts Stefan." After he held he depressed pose for a few more seconds he bounced back to his normal self. "But if you don't want to go I could always just go by myself...." Damon started as he walked in front of the door. "I'm sure I can find my favorite blood type somewhere in the lunch crowd." He said as he reached for the doorknob.
"No." Stefan nearly shouted at Damon.
Damon still facing the door smiled to himself then went back to his normal expression and turned to Stefan. "What's wrong Stef? I thought you didn't want to come? I mean after all the only thing I know how to do is kill people right?" He ended with a smirk.
"Damon you can't do that, they don't exist for you to feed on whenever you please."
"Of course they do. They all do."
"Damon I wont let you hurt anyone else."
"Why do you care so much?"
"Because they're innocent people Damon."
"Tell you what Stef. You come with me to lunch and I'll spare their lives." Damon said, knowing Stefan couldn't turn him down.
"Alright." Stefan said reluctantly. Stefan put on his jacket and they headed to Merlotte's.
Sookie Stackhouse was refilling some drinks when two strangers walked through the door. She looked up and saw two darked haired men. One of them had short brown hair he was wearing a dark blue shirt with a leather jacket, dark jeans, and black boots. The other with slightly longer brown hair was in a similar outfit wearing a black shirt with a leather jacket, jeans that were darker then the other man's, and the same black boots.
The two strangers sat down in her section so she hurried and walked over to take their orders. Once she got closer she realized both men were wearing identical rings. She felt uneasy when she looked at the man in black. There was something about him that just wasn't right. She didn't know what it was but she could feel it.
"Hello welcome to Merlotte's, I'm Sookie and I'll be your server today." Sookie said as she smiled wide like she always does when she's nervous. She saw the man in dark blue give the other a look she couldn't quite label. "You know I've seen you two around. Are you new here?" she said continued still smiling.
"Yes. We just came in last night." Stefan answered.
"Well I'm sure you two will love it here as much as everyone else." Sookie said unable to stop smiling or look away from the man in black.
"I'm loving it already." Damon said with a seductive smile that sent chills down Sookie's spine. Her smile faded from her face then she looked at the ground then at the other man and forced herself to smile again.
"So can I start you off with some drinks?" Sookie asked quickly.
"Two coffee's." Stefan said with a nod.
"It'll be right out." Sookie said nearly running away from the table to the bar to gather her thoughts before she got the coffee's. She was lost in her own thoughts watching the man in dark blue quietly argue with the man in black when Tara smacked her arm.
"What's wrong with you?" Tara asked clearly upset.
"Ow!" Sookie said rubbing her arm. "What was that for?!"
"I've been sayin' your name for the past two minutes." Tara said crossing her arms. "I had to get your attention somehow." Tara finished.
"I'm sorry I was...." Sookie started trying to find the words to explain. "I'm sorry." She said again when she couldn't find the right words to say the shook her head the started rubbing her forehead. "What were you trying to tell me Tara?" Sookie asked changing the subject.
"I was wondering who that guy at your table's name is. He's kind of cute." Tara said looking over at the table with the two strangers.
"Which one?" Sookie said looking back at Tara then remembering that she doesn't know their names. "Nevermind. I don't their names."
"Sookie are you okay?" Tara asked concern as she leaned on the bar table.
"Yeah I'm fine. I should get their coffee." Sookie said as she hurried to get two cups of coffee to bring to her customers.
"I'm so sorry that took so long." Sookie said as she approached the table with the two cups of coffee. "Here you go." She said smiling as she placed the cups down on the hard wood table making sure she didn't look at the man in black. "So have you decided what you would like to eat?" Sookie said with a big smile.
"Yes we have." Damon said which made Sookie turn her head to look at him without thinking about it. There was something about the way he looked at her that made her unable to speak or look away till the other man started to speak.
"We'll have two burgers with fries." Stefan said turning Sookie's attention away from Damon. Sookie was thankful for this. But Damon was furious.
"It'll be right out." Sookie said as she wrote down their order then walked off to give it to the cook Lafayette. While she was waiting she checked all of her tables to make sure everything was okay then she took her previous position in front of the bar table so she could talk to Tara.
"What was happening over there? Girl you have a boyfriend remember? His name's Bill." Tara said with he hand on her right hip as soon as Sookie walked up to her.
"What are you talking about?" Sookie asked confused as she put her tray down on the bar table.
"Don't think I didn't notice you makin' eyes with tall, dark, and handsome over there." Tara said lifting her left hand to point to the man in black who seemed to be arguing with the man across from him again.
Sookie looked at him for a while then decided to use her gift to find out more about him. She closed her eyes and focused on the man in black. When she heard nothing she tried the table behind them where Andy Bellefleur and Bud Dearborne were discussing a case they were working on even though both of their thoughts wandered elsewhere. She tried the man again and still nothing.
"I can't hear him..." Sookie said out loud by accident as she opened her eyes.
"Of course you can't hear him, he's halfway across the room." Tara said now leaning forward on the bar table.
"No I mean I can't hear his thoughts. I can hear Andy's and Bud's but I can't hear his...." Sookie said to Tara while she was still looking at the man in black. The only people she'd ever met in her life that she couldn't hear their thoughts were Vampires but he couldn't possibly be one. It was broad daylight, he would've burned in the sunlight and turned to ash.
"Why are you tryin' to get in his head in the first place?" Tara said returning to her position with her hand on her right hip.
"Tara this is serious." Sookie said turning to her friend. "I can hear everyone's thoughts but his. I only know a handful of people that I can't read their minds and their all Vampires." Sookie explained to Tara then turned back to the man.
"So....." Tara said waiting for me to fill in the blank. Just then Sookie had an idea.
"Oh my gosh!" Sookie said in excitement as she turned to her friend Tara. "Maybe he's another Telepath!" Sookie said unable to contain her joy. "Maybe he can block people from reading his mind or something. Oh my gosh who'd of known another Telepath would be right here in Merlotte's, how exciting!" Sookie said smiling like a child on Christmas morning. "I've never met someone like me before. Maybe he could help understand my....gift better!" Sookie said still smiling.
"Two burgers with fries!" Lafayette cried to Sookie.
"Well that's me, I better get it before it gets cold." Sookie said grabbing her tray and bounced over to grab the two plates and walked them over to the table.
"Here you go." Sookie said still smiling with joy as she placed the two plates in front of them.
"Thank you." Stefan said as he took as sip of his coffee.
"You're very welcome." Sookie said trying keep herself from jumping up and down with joy.
"You have a beautiful smile." Damon said to get Sookie to turn towards him. She did of course and smiled even wider.
"Well aren't you sweet." Sookie said feeling like a high school girl who just got asked to the prom by the Quarterback of the football team.
"Very." Damon replied with a smug expression on his face that made Sookie blush. She looked down to try to hide it hoping that he didn't notice.
"Well if y'all need anything you just let me know." Sookie said as she looked at both of them then walked off.
Damon watched Sookie as she took her place in front of the bar table. He smirked to himself on how easy it was for him to make her heart race. Then he turned his attention to his food.
"What do you think you're doing Damon?" Stefan asked his brother.
"I'm eating." Damon responded even though he knew that wasn't what his brother meant.
"Damon..." Stefan said looking at his brother.
"I'm just trying to be friendly." Damon lied to his brother.
"Is that what you call it? Being friendly? Were you just trying to be friendly with Caroline as well?" Stefan said raising his eyebrows at his brother. "Damon you can't just take advantage of innocent people. It's not right."
"I'm not trying to take advantage of anyone." Damon lied to his brother. "Can I do anything without you thinking that I have some....hidden agenda?" Damon said as he ate some of his fries.
"No."
Damon narrowed his eyes at Stefan and looked at him for a few seconds then he looked down and laughed to himself.
"What's so funny?" Stefan asked confused.
"Nothing Stef. Nothing." Damon responded then continued eating. Stefan looked quizzically then went back to eating his food.
Once they finished eating Damon told Stefan to pay the bill and that he'd wait outside. Sookie saw Damon walk outside and quickly followed him. Damon watched a a few birds fly over head as he took a deep breath.
"Hey." Sookie said touching Damon's shoulder. Making Damon turn around.
"Yes?" Damon asked wondering why she followed him outside.
"Wow um I know this might come off a bit odd but it's just that I've never met anyone like me before." Sookie said smiling at Damon.
"Uhhh....I'm not following..." Damon said confused.
"Oh you don't have to worry about keeping your secret." Sookie assured him while touching his arm.
"My secret?" Damon said still not understanding Sookie.
"Yes. I know what you are and I want you to know you're not alone." Sookie said still touching his arm.
"I'm not?" Damon said looking at her like she had three heads.
"No you're not." Sookie said as she reach out to touch his other arm as well. "I'm a Telepath too." She said smiling.
