Hey guys,

Here's the second chapter of my new story, I hope you like it. College is over now, I don't have a job, so writing is taking up my free time so lots of updates! Nothing new to report at all so Charlaine Harris owns the wonderful Southern Vampire Mysteries, and on with the new chapter.

By six o clock the following evening I'd completed my now usual phone calls only to be told the same thing; Jason hadn't been seen and I was sat awkwardly on one of the sofas in the living room trying desperately to relax. All my daily chores had been completed and I couldn't even concentrate on a book due to my churning stomach. I'm not at all psychic, no matter what some people think, but I felt like I was stood on the edge of a precipice about to plunge into a turbulent pool below. So there I sat, watching the seconds pass by until at precisely six o clock there was a knock on the door.

I scrambled into the hall, grabbing my bag along the way. I could hear nothing from the other side, not even a stray thought and odd as it sounds it soothed me. So much so that the flapping bats inside me were reduced to fluttering butterflies that I could actually cope with. When I opened the door it was to reveal old fashioned Bill looking back at me with wide eyes and a pale face, although that was probably his natural colour even after feeding which he clearly had.

His deep eyes roamed up and down my body, taking in everything I was wearing which wasn't really that much. The mainly white dress reached down to about two inches above my knees with a sweetheart neckline that gave an inkling of the substantial swell of my chest. The spaghetti straps left my shoulders bare and showed off the residual tan I still had from summer. The material was thick enough that I hadn't needed an underskirt and small red flowers with curling, intertwined stems decorated the blank canvas. It was the only dressy up dress that I owned that was in reasonable condition as I didn't really get many chances to wear them and I just couldn't find a suitable cardigan in my wardrobe even though I could have sworn I had one.

"Am I dressed okay?" Bill's eyes were still roaming over my body which was beginning to unsettle me.

"Yes." He replied tersely before stepping away from the door and walking down the porch steps towards his car without even a glance back to see if I was following. I shrugged my heavy coat on, hoping that I'd be able to leave it in Bill's car once we got to the bar and locked the door behind me quickly so that I could jog in my pumps through the chill night air.

It was only when I was sat inside the car that I realised it was some form of Chevrolet sports car that made Bill seem like he was going through some form of midlife crisis if that was at all possible. Trucks were the staple car around here, well either that or the little cars for nipping around town, like what I drove. This car did not blend in and the metallic blue colour didn't exactly help either. At least it could be classed as patriotic. I fastened my seatbelt and sat back into the comfortable seats, letting my fingers play with the cotton upholstery.

"Why do you look angry?" I asked after twenty minutes of silence during which I'd had to grip the seat tightly at least five times due to the speeds at which he drove.

"I'm not angry." He replied, his eyes never flickering from the road.

"You looked stony face as soon as I opened my door and you saw me, now you know I can't read your mind so tell me, what's wrong?" My temper flared slightly at his obvious denial of the truth.

"You'd better keep yourself under check Sookie. The vampires we will meet tonight are not all trying to mainstream, they won't take nicely to your out spoken personality although some will find it endearing, which is perhaps even more worrisome." The way he spoke it was as though he knew exactly which vampires would stick to me like bugs to fly paper and he wasn't looking forward to it. It almost seemed like he was being possessive of me which seemed odd; all considering we didn't really know each other that well and we had never actually been on a date. "Now, there is nothing wrong with the way you're dressed, in fact you look beautiful. It's just going to make it a little more difficult to make sure we stay safe." He glanced at me this time, sending me a soft smile to ease my nerves.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence too although it was a lot more companionable that before. The scenery passed by at ridiculous speeds and I had to keep reminding myself that Bill had beyond belief reflexes along with his many over suped up senses and characteristics such as strength. All too soon we began to slow, the indicator was flipped on and we turned into a largely closed strip mall car park. The only occupants were all clustered into one area which I could see was lit up by neon signs.

As we drew closer the signs became more legible and the scrawling writing of Fangtasia came into view, illuminated on each side of the large building in a different colour. Bill pulled his car into a designated Fangs Only bay close to the door and I caught my first true glimpse of Fangtasia. There was already a queue outside the building even though it was still quite early for a club and ever member of the clientele was dressed in black. Goths were the most prominent patrons, their hair done up extravagantly and make up applied liberally, in the hopes that they could appear like one of the vampires that dwelled inside. The other people in the queue appeared to be tourists; their black shirts either had Fangtasia emblazoned across the front or were plane black. The cameras hanging out of their pockets also gave them away a little bit too.

I was still ogling the patrons when my door was opened suddenly, causing me to gasp until I realised it was only Bill trying to be a gentleman. Smiling my appreciation I stepped out of the low vehicle and took his arm before taking the short walk to the front of the queue. Apparently as a vampire he didn't have to bother waiting in line, and since I was with him that included me too. We were greeted at the door by a very bored looking female vampire that seemed to be personifying Morticia Adams with blonde hair.

"Bill, we haven't seen you in a long time. How's the mainstreaming going?" She asked in an almost monotone until she got to the last part where I could have sworn I detected a little bit of sarcasm.

"Pam, it's nice to see you too." I wasn't sure if Bill was aware she hadn't actually said it was nice to see him in such a long time or not. "Mainstreaming is very well thank-you, I'm enjoying life again. Let me introduce you to Sookie. Sookie dear this is Pam, one of the co owners of the bar."

"Hi! It's nice to meet you," I beamed at her, my nervous smile plastered across my face. I offered my hand out tentatively toward her and only realised I'd done some form of faux pas when she only looked at my hand, her eyebrows slightly raised.

"Well what a little ray of sunshine you are. How old are you?" She asked, not bothering to hide her roaming eyes.

"Twenty six." I replied swiftly and my statement was backed up by the nodding of Bill's head.

"Okay, I'll forego the ID; you appear to be telling the truth." Oh dear god, how could she tell I was telling the truth? Could vampires really detect such minute changes in the human body that occur in lying? That was a little piece of information to remember. "Remember no biting, feeding or sex on the premises." That was the last bit of attention she paid to us, she turned to the next people in the line who had been grumbling until they'd realised Bill had been a vampire. I gulped once to gather my nerves and by the time I'd finished the small movement we were over the threshold.

Fangtasia was a bit like a mecca for vampires, as most people seem to interpret them. From what I knew of vampires, it probably wasn't a place they would be most comfortable in as most didn't go for the whole gothic scenes. The wall of the main entrance and the bar were grey whilst the remaining side walls were black, breaking up the colour were stripes of red running around the floor, ceiling and centre. Decorating most of the walls and surfaces was vampire memorabilia from every possible film, television and book you could think of that had even mentioned vampires in passing. The crowd inside was a continuation of the queue outside; everyone was wearing black and already the dance floor was heaving with gyrating bodies.

"We'll go get a booth," Bill spoke directly into my ear so that I could hear him over the pounding music. I nodded my reply still watching the intricate lace the adorned one wall that seemed to be part of a shrine to Dracula in all of his forms from Christopher Lee to Gerard Butler. With his hand on my lower back he guided me over a mercifully empty booth; the only surrounding occupants seemed to be loved up couples that wouldn't pay us any attention. "Would you like a drink?" He asked courteously once we were comfortably seated, facing each other.

"Yes please, a gin and tonic?" He inclined his head in acknowledgement before leaving silently.

I was left alone in the bar to watch the scenes playing out before me: a writhing mass of young Goths were taking up the dance floor where the music was being controlled by what appeared to be a vampire DJ in the corner of the room. In amongst the crowd there were a couple of pale, slightly luminous faces with blank spots for minds that made up the vampire patrons. I noticed a couple of others within the bar too; a long dark haired bar tender, the blond woman on the door, a young man that couldn't be older than twenty going from booth to booth talking to the women and a man sat at the back of the room on a raised chair that looked much too like a throne for my liking.

As I was scanning the room my gaze was caught by the fellow sat in the chair, and try as I might to not like him because surely he was an arrogant so and so with a personality to match. He was a very striking man, handsome as well as beautiful yet in a very masculine way although his hair shouldn't have created that affect at all. Long, pale almost white blond hair, trailed over his shoulders in a straight curtain as though it was begging me to run my fingers through it. His face was set in a bored line but almost as though even in such a relaxed state, he was more draped across the chair, he was highly proud of himself and this establishment. His jaw line was well defined and his nose was straight, which led up to a barely visible eyebrows set on a solid forehead. He was gorgeous and his dazzling blue eyes certainly helped the affect. When I looked into his eyes I realised I'd been caught.

My eyes dropped instantly downward to look at the table top in front of me, heat flaring across my cheeks as I did so. That's when I felt it for the first time, something at the edges of my mind, trying desperately to get in. I couldn't quite describe the sensation but the closest thing I can think of is lots of little painless needles poking at my mind, trying to gain entrance. Something told me that I wouldn't like whatever it would do if it did gain entry. My shields shot up automatically as soon as I felt the presence, clamping down on my inner thoughts locking away my mind. My eyes screwed up in concentration from the unseen power and I realised this must be some form of vampire influence.

As soon as that thought slipped through my mind my eyes snapped open, scanning the room around me for the culprit for I was sure this sort of thing wasn't allowed in the bar. No one was looking my way, none of the vampire crowd at least. Then I saw who it was; the man sat at the head of the bar, the one with the throne. He was staring intently at me with an interested expression on his face that I knew must mean trouble.

"Are you okay?" Bill asked suddenly in my ear, his hand reaching across to lie gently on my shoulder. My drink was already placed on the table in front of me and I hadn't even noticed it.

"What? Oh yes, I'm fine thank-you." I replied, somehow still maintaining my shields but the pressure had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. "Thanks for the drink," I added, raising the glass to my lips for a sip.

We sat in silence, letting the minutes pass by as we each drank our respective drinks whilst scanning the crowd. At least, that's what I was doing; it was difficult to tell with vampires. My 'mental ears' were piqued, listening intently for any mention of anything that could be related to my brother but I was getting absolutely nothing for my efforts. The only thing on everyone's mind; sex. It was disturbing and perverted some of the thoughts I was picking up on, especially from the projectors who I often get pictures from. I'd seen images I'd never wished to see in my life. All the while I was aware of a pair of eyes watching me from across the room and every so often the tell tale pressure returned to my mind.

"Bill, are you able to influence me?" I asked after about five minutes, wanting to know the answer to at least one of my questions.

"Yes, most vampires, some don't develop the ability fully, are able to influence people. Why?" He asked with comically raised eyebrows, probably just making sure I got the idea over the loud, thumping music.

"Can you try on me please? I want to see if it works." I gave him my most innocent smile, hoping to disarm him.

"Now is not the time or the place to discover anything of the sort Sookie, perhaps later." I wasn't entirely sure but he did sound a little bit defensive, perhaps he wasn't entirely sure of his ability and I was the biggest threat to his talents. He knew I was different, and different didn't follow the normal pattern. I was more sure than before that the mental pressure I'd felt was the influence of the big vampire.

"Okay then, but who is that guy that keeps looking over here?" Best not to get him too protective, he was already on the defensive so it wouldn't be too big of a leap. Instantly his eyes flickered up in the direction I'd glanced, and his face set into hard, immobile stone.

"That's Eric; he's the oldest thing in this bar." He replied a little tersely, taking another, larger, gulp of his synthetic blood as soon as the last syllable had left his mouth.

"Why is he watching us?" I asked quietly, knowing that vampires had impressive senses that tended to improve with age.

"He finds you interesting. He's likely to summon us soon. You should get as much information as you can soon, this place will be packed within the hour and it will prove more difficult."

"Will you come with me?" I asked, feeling nervous again suddenly. I dove into my bag, finding my purse so that I could get the small photo of Jason that I kept in there out. My plan was rather basic; if I was talking to a human show them the picture which would get them thinking about Jason and I'd be able to read all the information out of their head, if it was a vampire show them the picture and see if they decided to tell me anything.

"Of course," was my cool reply which was accompanied by him standing up and moving quickly to offer me his hand by which time I was pretty much stood up anyway.

I started off by the first booth that wasn't occupied by a couple smooching. There were three young women sat together, each with some form of exotic looking cocktail sat in front of them which didn't look like they'd been touched. They were all impeccably dressed though in the customary gothic black with makeup that wasn't too excessive. Right from the closest girl's head I knew that they were all in college and couldn't actually afford more than one or two drinks whenever they came here but they just loved the atmosphere and the feeling of walking on the dark side.

"Hi! I was wondering if you could help me with something," I started out and I thought I detected that my accent was even stronger than usual because I was trying to be so polite.

"Sure, go ahead," all three of them chimed, their heads turned to watch me.

"Can you tell me if you've seen this guy around here?" I offered the photo to be passed around and I was pleased when all three seemed to take a very good look at the photo. A deluge of information swam at me; I don't think I've seen him around here but he's rather cute for an older guy, I've seen him in here a few times and every time a different woman or vampire hanging off of his arm I wish I was so lucky and finally I think I've seen him around here but I can't be too sure. The middle girl might be able to tell me something. "Any of you guys recognise him?"

"Yeah, I've seen him around here a few times, usually with a different guest every time. More humans than vampires though." The skinny girl in the middle shrugged her shoulders and my heart fell a little as I realised that really was the only information she could tell me.

That's how the next five people who I asked replied. Everyone that was a regular could remember seeing Jason in the bar with different people each time but no one had spoken to him or made any form of contact. In other words they could tell me nothing useful or anything that I didn't already know. That all changed with the next person that I spoke to.

"Excuse me, hi! Can you I ask you a quick question?" I asked brightly as I stood next to the only guy that was alone at the bar. Bill was a few places down from where I was ordering another couple of drinks for the two of us.

"You just did," came my gruff reply. He picked up the beer bottle he was holding and took a large swig before placing it back down on the bar with a thud. His eyes were roaming over my body in a leering way which made me wish whole heartedly I was wearing a little bit more clothing. "But go ahead sweetheart; I'll make you a deal." He didn't say anything else and his mind was oddly clouded with the amount of alcohol he'd consumed, all I could see in his mind was a horrid image of my breasts.

"Have you seen this guy around here before?" I held out the picture of my brother for him to see. His eyes barely glanced over the sheet before following up my arm to settle his gaze on my chest once again.

"Not that I recall, he's not your boyfriend is he? 'Cos you could do better, you could do me." He leaned in further to me and I could smell the stench of beer on his breath. Then, before I could move, his hands came crashing down on my forearms. My hands had been resting on the metal rail that ran around just under the final ledge of the wooden bar. His skin was greasy, making the hairs on my arms stand up and the mental assault was disabling. His mind reeled with what he wanted to do with it and he honestly didn't care if wanted it or if I was even awake.

"Take your hands off of the lady." A deep voice said from behind me and I was glad that Bill had finally stepped in; as soon as the voice spoke I had the fleeting thought of wondering why he hadn't helped me earlier.

"Stay away mister, I was here first," the drunk replied whilst his fingers gripped me even tighter, walking the edge of pain.

"I said let the woman go," the voice behind me growl and it no longer sounded anything like Bill. A brilliantly white hand snapped in front of my face to land straight on the drunken man's arm.

"Argh!" The yell caught me by surprise as I was still feeling the shock of the power the arm had slapped down with. The human let go of my arms in shock, moving backwards even as he did so. The vampire that had come to my rescue wasn't letting go though and the man quickly reached the limits of his joints. "Let me go," he yelled.

"Why should I let you go? You didn't listen to me; you showed me great disrespect as the owner of this establishment." The vampire moved from behind me, getting a better grip on the would be attacker. A blond giant took up my entire field of vision, his broad shoulders blotting the scene that was playing out in front of me. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood tonight or I'd snap your wrists," Eric continued. Then without any form of visible calling, two female vampires appeared at his sides and carted off the drunk through a door I'd not noticed earlier.

"Thank-you," I stuttered as the blond god of darkness turned around to put all his attention on me.

"You are welcome woman." Although he was calling me something that could be construed as a little derogatory he said it as though he was giving me a title, one with at least some power behind it. "I'm Eric Northman, you are Bill's guest?"

"She is mine." Bill finally spoke up and I couldn't help but wonder where he'd been whilst I'd been having my little confrontation.

"Bill, I am not yours. I'm not anyone's, I am my own self." I said tersely with my arms folded over my chest. I was independent and I'd survived on my own for quite awhile.

"Fair game." A voice behind me whispered and it could only be Eric, the voice was so deep.

"Sookie, you don't know what you're saying. If you're not officially connected to me, you put yourself in danger here." Bill's fangs were down as he leant in to speak to me, his breath tickling my ear as the words rushed out of his mouth.

"Bill, I can handle myself."

"You managed to pick one with a little fire here Bill. What happened to mainstreaming?" Eric asked and I could hear the amusement in his voice as he took a few steps to stand perpendicular to both me and Bill.

"Eric now is not the time or the place."

"You want to pick a fight here? On my turf? You haven't even introduced us properly yet." His broad smile lit up his face in what I would class as a genuine emotion, especially or a vampire.

"Sookie, this is Eric Northman. Eric this is Sookie Stackhouse my date for the evening." I huffed audibly at that, causing two pairs of eyes to look at me intently.

"You're fun," Eric breathed with a barely there chuckle. "What information are you seeking here? I've seen you asking some of the patrons. Bill, nothing goes on in my club without my knowledge, tell me, why did you let her speak to anyone else when you could have saved so much time?" Bill and Eric had a history; there was no question about it. The testosterone level had risen exponentially.

"I'm wanting information on my brother, have you seen him?" I offered the picture, which was miraculously still clutched in my hand, at Eric for his inspection. He stared for a few moments at the slip of paper before turning his startlingly blue eyes up at me.

"I know Jason; he comes here quite a lot, especially lately. Shall we talk in my office?" His eyebrows rose up, questioningly and I couldn't help but notice the suggestive wiggle he gave them.

"Sookie, do not go with him. He doesn't have any morals and he's not exactly into mainstreaming." Bill growled at me from my side.

"What do you think Sookie? I may or may not have more information. Tell me though, what are you going to do with any information you gain?"

"I'm getting my brother back." I spoke with a confidence I didn't realise I possessed at that moment.

"So he's gone missing then. I don't know anything about that. But if it could be dangerous. Aren't you afraid?"

"No." I replied, hoping I really was telling the truth.

"You definitely picked a fun one, that's rare for a breather." He chuckled. "Are you coming to see if I have more information?" Then he turned back to look where he was going, the crowds parting before him like the red sea. He never looked back to see if I was following, leaving the decision with me. He'd admitted to more knowledge but also to not knowing anything about my brother's disappearance. It was up to me. Was I brave enough to face this new giant of a vampire?

So what do you think? I love feedback almost as much as I love a certain Viking Vampire. Next update soon. Oh sorry, it's a little late out, my connection to the internet wasn't working last night.