Disclaimer: All characters belong to Charlaine Harris (This goes for chapter 1 too, oops)
Somehow I found myself working on my day off. I didn't really mind, it's not like I have anything better to do with my time. I hate to say it but after Eric passed away I quit school. It seemed all of my reasons for going were gone and being in Baton Rouge only reminded me of what I had lost. I suppose I should finish my degree at some point but so far it has been too easy to procrastinate and push it aside. I've become quite the procrastinator actually. I barely live because it would mean that I'm okay with my life without Eric, which I'm not.
Sometimes I wish I could be reckless like Jason and push on but I just sort of survive from day to day in a sort of stasis. Each day just follows the previous. I find small pleasures in little things like the flower box on my kitchen window and the crazy conversations that go on at the bar. But I am far from happy and no amount of medication seems to do the trick. At first everyone tried to help me out of my funk but now they just leave me be. Kinda like Jason, they know he needs to straighten up but no one takes the time anymore to try talking sense into him. Even though we are grown it seems like the town sees us as poor orphans. We get a lot of pitiful looks and pats on the back. Although after two years those have sort of tapered off to a minimum.
So like I said, I'm just living my life the best I can right now. On the surface things aren't so bad really. I live in a little one bedroom apartment that I rent from the owner of Merlotte's. My landlord and boss, Sam Merlotte (naturally) is a pretty decent guy and he gave me a good break on rent. I moved in with Jason at first but that went down hill pretty fast. Frankly, I was tired of hearing random whores scream his name not to mention awkward morning cups of coffee with said woman.
I had just tied my apron around my too thin waist and made my way to the bar so Sam could fill me in on any important things I would need to know for my shift like beer specials and the soup of the day. I could tell something was wrong as soon as I said hey to him.
"What's the matter Sam?" I asked with a small tilt of my head to the side. My pony tail brushed my bare neck and I gave a small shudder. It tickled. I never liked anything touching my neck, well except for Eric of course. The thought that Eric would never kiss my neck again almost made me cry so I focused on Sam.
Sam looked worried and he kept glancing at the TV that was placed over the bar for the patrons to watch games on. He had it set to the Shreveport news channel which I thought was weird. No one wants to watch the news while eating chicken strips and fried pickles.
"Nothing's wrong, Sookie. By the way thanks for coming in." He tried to smile but it was an utter failure, it looked more like a grimace than anything.
"Whatever you say Sam so what's the skinny on today's specials?" If he wasn't going to share his problems with me I wasn't going to beg. He was a friend but I understood more than anyone when someone wants to change the subject that it's better to let them.
"Well, tonight is dollar draught night, and Laf made some really wonderful Chicken Tortilla soup." His smile corrected itself a little bit and I felt pretty confident that what ever was bothering him wasn't as bad as it first appeared to be.
"K well, I'll get to it then."
I said my hellos to Lafayette in the kitchen and let Holly know I was officially on the clock so she could get herself ready to leave. I saw that I was working with Arlene tonight and I groaned internally. That woman was so freaking obnoxious. She ran through men almost as fast as Jase went through women. The only difference is Arlene was hoping to snag a new daddy for her two kids. I occasionally babysit her kids, they're okay but you can tell that they suffer from their mom's fickleness. Arlene smiled at me and I admit I felt guilty for my thoughts upon seeing her. I guess she has her good points. She seems to always have a smile on her face. I guess that counts for something.
The night was going along well and I was doing pretty good tip-wise. The sun had set and the heavier drinkers started to arrive, Jason among them. He settled himself into one of the booths in my section and waited for his pitcher of beer and his bourbon. I knew what he wanted so I took it to him without asking. I sat the bourbon down and before I had his first glass of beer poured he had finished his Jack straight up. That was my queue to go to the bar for another one. I contemplated telling him to slow it down but I wasn't up for a fight tonight so I left him to drink away Eric's ghost in his own way.
I asked Sam to pour another one for Jason and looked up at the TV while I waited. A newsflash banner started across the bottom of the screen and Sam froze momentarily before he turned up the sound. He handed me the drink and told me to sit with Jason for a bit. I couldn't help thinking that Sam was expecting whatever was about to happen on the TV. He looked as white as a sheet. I nodded and made my way over to sit with Jason.
Sam had turned the TV up enough to catch the attention of everyone in Merlotte's. No one could resist news to gossip about and it appeared we were about to get some big news from the looks of things.
I recognized the anchor. He was more good-looking than talented and he stumbled over his words as he spoke. Apparently the Japanese had just announced that they had invented a blood substitute that would revolutionize the medical industry. While that was certainly captivating news I didn't see why it would have made Sam so nervous. After the announcement they showed a short video that explained the benefits of the new synthetic blood and a bit about the history behind the invention. When they cut back to the anchor he was sitting next to a strikingly beautiful blonde woman. She looked like a housewife in her pastel pink sweater and string of pearls but there was something behind the look in her eyes that was frightening. Whoever had done her makeup had overdone the powder because she was very pale, almost white. But it didn't take away from her beauty. The anchor began to interview the blonde.
"We have a special guest in our studios this evening, Ms. Pamela Ravenscroft. Thank you for joining me tonight. I understand that you have additional information about the new synthetic blood."
The woman on the screen thanked the anchor and looked directly into the TV camera. Sam visually shuddered and poured himself his own shot of Jack. This Pamela Ravenscroft had him spooked, that was for sure. I could only guess as to why.
"Yes, I do Peter. I see no reason to postpone this so I'll cut to the chase. Vampires exist, and I am one."
I couldn't help it, I started to laugh. This was ridiculous, who the hell was this crazy bitch and who allowed her on TV? I looked to Sam to see his reaction and my laughter died on my tongue. From the look on his face I knew. I knew that vampires existed and that the woman on TV was one and I also knew that Sam knew before anyone else in the bar. I'd have to question him later but for the time being I had managed to turn my attention back to the TV. The anchor had apparently fainted because Ms. Pamela Ravenscroft had flashed her fangs to him and the camera. She was smiling like a cat that ate the canary. Or the vampire that ate your neighbor as it was.
"Holy fucking hell, Sookie. Tell me I am drunk, tell me I didn't just see that hot chick flash fangs."
Jason reached over and grabbed my hand giving it a big squeeze. Here we were; a 22 year old girl and her 25 year old brother learning that the boogie man does exist and that there were indeed monsters in the closet. Holy fucking hell indeed.
The bar began to erupt into chaos. Some people were running out of the bar like the vampire was going to pop out of the TV and take a taste right then. Jane Bodehouse, town drunk, decided it was as good a time as any to pass out into the bowl of peanuts. And Sam just stood there with his arms crossed shaking his head staring at the screen. After a second or two he came to his senses and managed to calm the patrons that had decided to stay, telling them that they needed to finish watching what was being said on the news.
According to vampire Pam, which I had decided to start calling her in hopes of making the whole thing seem more real, the new synthetic blood made it possible for vampires to survive without drinking human blood. Well, that's a good thing I guess. I thought to myself since I had lost the ability to form words once the vampire had said 'drinking human blood.'
"What's it all mean, Sook? What's gonna happen now?" For a minute Jason looked just like the ten year old he once was.
"I don't know, Jase. I just don't know."
After the news was over Jason had decided that he was done drinking for the night. I suspect he thought he was having some sort of alcohol induced hallucination. Sam and I had a hard time closing the bar that night. I guess a few of the patrons felt safer in the bar and didn't want to venture outside. I figured they were being silly. We were safer now then we had been before the synthetic blood. I guess the vampires had been working with the Japanese scientist for a while and production, bottling, and sales of the first blood drink for vampires were already underway. Looks like TruBlood (catchy) was going to be available at your nearest Piggly Wiggly within the week. Vampires had already been supplied with it for weeks unbeknownst to us humans. And as far as the vampires were concerned we should all just go on about our normally scheduled programs because they didn't need us anymore for dinner, well according to vampire Pam anyways. I wasn't too sure about that since I knew for a fact that while you can live off of tofu no one in their right minds would. But maybe I'm wrong. One thing I did know was that no vampire was going to keep me from getting into my warm bed because I was tired and ready to go home. Once the last customers had gone and Jane's son had lifted her out of the peanuts and placed her in his car Sam and I walked outside to say goodnight.
"You knew, Sam." I wasn't asking a question.
"Yeah, Sookie. I knew, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. I wasn't sure it would really happen." He looked down at his feet. Looked to me like they were still there so I didn't let him get away with whatever guilty diversion he was trying to pull. This time I wasn't going to let him change the subject.
"How did you know?" That was the million dollar question. Somehow I doubted it was because his liquor distributor had told him so he could place an order for TruBlood.
"Does it matter, chere?"
Uh, oh. Sam was trying to butter me up. He only pulled the 'chere' card when he needed me to clean vomit up in the ladies room or something gross like that.
"I does." And it did. It really did because I figured he'd known about vampires for a while and I felt like that's just something you tell a friend.
Sam stood before me contemplating his answer. He was probably figuring out just how much to tell me. That, or he was trying to come up with a good lie. If it was the later I would know and he would regret it, that you can be sure. Just as I was about to yell 'never mind' and storm to my car Sam spoke up.
"I know because they are part of the supernatural community, and so am I." This time he avoided looking at his shoes and just looked at me in the eyes. I think I preferred him looking at his shoes because I was getting freaked out. Was Sam a vampire too? How did I not know?
"Wait, are you a…" I was cut off before I could finish my sentence.
"No! God no Sook, I ain't no vamp." Sam sounded rightly offended. "I'm a shape shifter."
"A what?" I knew I was catching flies but I didn't care enough to fix the situation. I just left my mouth agape. I think it would have taken too much effort to close my mouth at that point in time.
"A shape shifter." Sam said again, this time beaming with pride. You'd have thought he'd just told me that his kid had made honor roll if he'd had a kid, that is. "I can turn into any animal I want."
I can't day that I am proud of what I did next but I turned around on my heels and walked to my car without so much as a word. This was all too much. I heard Sam holler for me but I just lifted my arm up and kind of waived to him to let him know to leave me alone I didn't even bother to turn around. It's not like I wasn't ever going to come back or anything. I just needed a minute or 1000.
Once I was in my car I started to cry. I made it a mile before the tears really started to fall and I had to pull over to the side of the road. Suddenly my world felt so small and I felt so lost. I just found out that there were other being in the world but I had never felt so alone. I needed Eric more than I had in ages and my heart ached as my body quaked with sobs, my heart felt like it was breaking all over again. Why? Why wasn't Eric here to protect me? Why wasn't Eric here to make a joke and take my mind off of the scary monsters?
I cried in my car for a while longer before I made up my mind to get home. I just wanted to sleep. Sleep would take my mind away from everything and maybe, if I was lucky, Eric would visit me in a dream and I could talk to him about all the new things I had just learned about my world.
I pulled into my drive and headed to my front door. I still had the hiccups from sobbing and for some reason I just couldn't get to the door fast enough. I guess it was the news story, or the image of vampire Pam's fangs, but I felt like I was being followed. I picked up my pace and just as I reached my stoop I felt a presence behind me. I was scared to death and then I smelled it. Irish Spring soap and a certain musk that belonged to only one individual I smelled him. Eric.
"You have no idea how long I have waited for this night."
I heard his voice. I wanted to turn around so badly but I knew to do so would be a mistake. I knew he wouldn't be there. He couldn't be there, could he? What a freaking night, vampires, shape shifter and now I have gone insane. Or maybe I woke up this way and the whole vampire thing was in my crazy mind as well.
I turned around slowly and there he was. My husband in the flesh, every bit as beautiful as the day he said 'I do'.
"But, how?" I managed to choke out those two little words. I feared that my legs were going to give out on me.
"I have missed you so much, my Sookie." Eric smiled at me and reached out a hand to cup my cheek like he had done a thousand times in the past. But his fingers were cold. Too cold. And then it hit me. And I screamed.