A/N: I am having to change the schedule a little to compensate for my last story. Granted my version of book four ended sooner than Harris's, but events (and the lunar schedule) are a little off now. So, if you are comparing my story to the book, please forgive my poetic license with the timing!
I had this chapter almost completely finished and then had to re-write it!
With Luna in full wedding planning mode, her shifts had been drastically cut. Preferential scheduling was just one plus to marrying the boss. Sookie didn't really mind, though. She had just picked up her roomie's slack. It was nice to have something to keep her busy, since Eric had not needed her. Well, she tried to stay away from that particular thought.
"Order up." The voice of their newest cook called Sookie back to the present. Sweetie Des Arts was an older lady who had probably been quite a looker in her younger days, though the sheer amount of make-up she used made it a little difficult to tell.
"Thanks!" Sookie called back with a smile as she watched the busboy dodge out of Sweetie's way rather than suffer her wrath. The kitchen was the petite woman's domain, but she was hardworking and reliable. No one minded if she snipped at you every once and a while, except maybe the busboy.
"Everything okay?" The brunette cook didn't even look at the grill as she expertly flipped a burger.
"Right as rain!" It wasn't so much a lie as the proper answer to give for the question. No one who asked that questioned wanted the real answer. Sookie didn't have to read minds to know the reaction she would if she truly answered.
Well, my maybe-boyfriend won't call me even just to use my telepathic services probably because his vampire dad wanted to kill me and is now real conflicted about it. Plus, my were roommate is going crazy trying to plan a shifter wedding before the next new moon.
No amount of "Well, bless your heart" could cover up that catastrophe. Better to focus on the customers. On the bright side, her shields were as sturdy as ever, so she barely heard a mental peep as she made her way table to table getting drink refills and checks. The bell rang at the front to let her, Arlene and Danielle know that a new customer had just come in.
Arlene was next to Sookie at the bar waiting for a beer from Sam, but Arlene was the first one to turn around.
"Welcome to Merlotte's, sit down wherever." Her voice was strained, and she turned back towards the bar a little quicker than necessary. "Sook, this one's all yours!"
It was strange for Arlene to pass up a table, so as soon as was safe, Sookie peeked back around. Usually, she found people completely unable to properly identify a vampire, but maybe Arlene was getting better. Or maybe, the eye patch, striped red and white short-sleeved shirt and moustache circa 1600 was just a dead give away.
Her first instinct was to tell Eric, but she did not want to hand over the phone to this man, like she had been forced to when Bill first came to Merlotte's. Not to mention, she did not want to be the first to break the silence that was between them. Instead, she straightened her ponytail and sauntered on over.
"What can I get you, dear swashbuckler? We carry TruBlood and Red Stuff." She wanted keep it light but let him know that she was fully aware he was a vampire.
"Aye, milady." His English accent perfectly finished the look. "I was afraid this gent might shrivel up from thirst. I will take a TruBlood, AB if you have it."
"Coming right up, kind sir." His charm was endearing, even if the twinkle in his eye let her know he was probably every bit the scoundrel.
Judging by Sam's expression, she wasn't the only one to think so. She went behind the bar to grab his synthetic and pop it in the microwave. Merlotte's owner had no intention of taking his eyes off the undead pirate. Which was fine by her, it meant she was free to go about her work without worrying. A shifter for a bartender might not stop a rogue vampire, but it would give them pause.
"Here you are."
"Thank you, fair maiden." His smile confirmed her suspicions as to his age. His teeth belonged in an age where braces were not an option.
She gave him a nod before going to her more demanding customers. The nice thing about serving a vampire at a bar is they are really low maintenance customers. Besides the occasional refill, they never complain about dirty silverware or need extra ranch or swear they said no pickles.
As tuned out as she was, Sookie didn't notice trouble brewing between a local and a college student until it was too late. Sam was already hopping the bar, in a distinctly inhuman way, when the out of towner took the first swing. No one seemed to notice the shifter as every eye tried to follow the blur from a nearby booth.
"Gents, if fisticuffs are in order, I believe it is proper etiquette to quit the building and the presence of ladies before coming to blows." The buccaneer stood beside the two men, only a single hand on each shoulder holding them apart.
Neither man seemed too keen on taking it outside now that a vampire was involved. The boy from Louisiana Tech had brought some of his friends, but they were all trying to act as if they didn't know him. Jeff LeBaff, the local, was all too happy to give up; hurt pride was the only thing that had gotten him going in the first place. Everyone knew it was suicide to tangle with a vamp; no doubt, the tale would later be told of how Jeff would totally have kicked that kid's ass had a vampire not stepped in.
"Have cooler heads prevailed?" Both men nodded rather than sounded sheepish when replying to the vampire. "Very good, then we can all return to our drinks?"
He did not wait for an answer before returning to his table, assured of a proper response. Jeff and the kid, Mark, (according to his friends' heads) both returned to their seats to be consoled by their friends. Sam would have preferred to kick both troublemakers out, but the situation was settled enough that he didn't want to stir the pot now. Instead, he left his patrons busy themselves with whispering excitedly about the new bit of gossip.
The bartender would feel better about it in a minute, anyway. The college boys were already discussing how long they would need to stay to not lose face. They had gotten their fill of excitement for the night.
So Sookie ignored Sam's muttering over the interfering vampire as she went behind the bar once again. It was no use reminding her boss of vampire's impressive hearing; he knew better than most that the customer could probably hear him.
"This one's on the house." If Sam objected to the free TruBlood she had just placed in front of the drifter, she would take it out of her tip money later. "Thank you stepping in like that."
"Instead of a free drink, could I have the honor of your name?" The rogue smile had never left his face even during the altercation.
"How about both? I'm Sookie Stackhouse." She gave a small bob of her head rather than offer a hand. In her experience, vampires didn't do handshakes.
"A pleasure gentlewoman, Charles Twining is the name." He bowed, complete with a hand flourish, all while sitting.
"Good to meet you."'
"If it is not too impertinent, might I ask…?" He paused to give her time for a refusal, though without knowing the question she could hardly say no. Had he been human, she could have. "Why you are the resident vampire waitress? Or are you overly fond of eye patches?"
"You noticed that?" She shot Arlene a bad look when Charles's lone eyebrow answered for him. "I guess you could call me the local expert. I-" She was about to say date a vampire, but that was up in the air, better to go with the definite. "I've done some work at Fangtasia over in Shreveport."
Luckily, humans don't have extra sensitive ears, so none of them would be confused, and her working at a vampire bar was much less interesting than her working for the Area Five Sheriff himself. If Sam read something into that, well, it wouldn't be anymore than he read into Eric never being around.
"Well, well, well, beautiful and mysterious. You are quite a waitress, Miss Stackhouse." He had not attempted any glamour, and besides one thorough look of appreciation, he had not been ogling her. So far, no red flags, but she still didn't want to discuss her relationship with Eric… on any level.
"I won't be if I don't see to my tables." She smoothly gave herself an out from the conversation, cutting off anymore questions about her vampiric knowledge.
That would have been more than enough excitement for one night, but apparently, the fates disagreed. Sookie followed Sam's intense gaze when he barely nodded in the direction of the entrance. Just about the time people had settled back down, a jittery woman no one recognized walked into the bar.
Now, strange faces were by no means unheard of, like those boys from Louisiana Tech, but they didn't come dressed like you might for an underground grunge metal concert. For someone who had spent most of her life trying to ignore her telepathy, Sookie sure had been using it a lot recently. For Sam's sake, she delved into the mind of the drifter, which was no less jumpy than she was on the outside.
The telepath had been pretty sure drugs were involved before she ever listened in, but it was worse than she thought. Having had her fair share of vampire blood, Sookie knew the risks involved. However, using the stuff sold on the street was even more dangerous, if it was vamp blood at all. Not to mention, the danger to the seller should a vampire find out about it. Life spans of drainers tended to be short.
This particular woman had some old product she wanted to get rid of, quick. While it was highly unlikely anyone in Bon Temps was going to be adventurous enough to actually try vamp blood, Sookie was not about to let her try at Merlotte's. At least, there were a couple of bright spots to the situation. One, the woman was keeping the illegal substances in her jacket pocket, and two, she knew she could depend on Sam to help her out. Now, they just had to keep the bar room vampire in the dark.
Sookie walked behind the woman, pointing at her jacket as she went to grab Catfish's burger. By the time she made it back to the bar, a glass of wine had appeared on the counter. In her haste, Sookie accidentally tipped the entire flute over the woman.
"Oh, I am so sorry!" Her best Crazy Sookie smile plastered across her face.
"You stupid-" The woman's words were cut short by the overly helpful waitress.
"Here, let me take care of that." Sookie did not wait for permission as she pulled the woman's coat off. "Sam'll put some soda on it before the stain can set!"
Without missing a beat, Sam caught the coat the woman was already trying to snatch back. "Goodness ma'am, she got you pretty good there." He made a big show of dabbing some soda into the coat, but as he was blotting, Sookie watched his other hand searching her pockets.
"It's fine, really. Just give me back my coat, and I'll be out of this dive." The clinking of glass vials was finally what gave them away. "Hey, you can't-"
"My tab for the TruBlood, please." Charles's voice rang out over the captive bar audience.
The drug dealer looked like a corpse as all blood drained from her face. She hadn't even looked around the room, figuring this place would be safe. What were the chances of a vampire being in a little Podunk town bar?
Little did she know that with Sookie Stackhouse around, chances were good something supernatural was lurking nearby.
"Comin' right up." Sookie managed to keep her voice even. She would have loved to know what was on Charles' mind at that moment.
"Keep the damn coat!" The woman's voice was shaky rather than mad. At least, she had the good sense to be scared. "It's ruined anyway."
If the waitress had wondered whether the woman was sampling the product, Sookie was sure of it when the druggie left. She vacated the premises with a speed not quite on par with the Two-Natured, but definitely faster than a woman of her build should have been able to muster.
Sam stuffed the entire coat in the trash, rather than take out the small vials of blood. Sookie knew he was worried about the vampire wanting to go after the stupid woman, so she took a little more time than necessary to ring up the single synthetic blood and take over his check.
If the dealer had driven, she might have a chance of getting far enough away with the time Sookie bought. The rest of the bar knew something had happened, but no one was quite sure what. It was better that way.
"Here you are, sorry about that. I had some orders that needed putting in." She tried to keep the crazy out of her smile but wasn't convinced of its success.
"You can take a deep breath." The patron informed her with a wink while taking out his very un-pirate like wallet. Shouldn't it have been a coin pouch?
"Pardon?" This expression was the reason most of Bon Temps thought she was just dumb.
She leaned in when he motioned towards her conspiratorially. "I have no plans to pursue her."
"Who?"
"Miss Stackhouse. I didn't take you for a teller of tales." He shook his head in disappointment.
"Technically, I haven't told any tales." She often felt like she had told more lies and half truths in the last year than she had all her life, but so far she had just played dumb.
"Aye, I suppose not." He leaned back with a half smile to study her once more. "How did you know she had it on her?"
"I worked at Fangtasia, remember." Obviously, he knew what had happened, denying it anymore would probably just raise his suspicions. "I know the signs. I got lucky that it was in her jacket. People like her don't come into places like this less they need to." Again, strictly speaking she had not lied, just failed to mention a few key facts.
"It was a good guess, and lucky it wasn't in her pants' pocket." They bought gave a short laugh at that visual. "Surely, we should give notice to the local authorities, if naught else."
"I'll let the sheriff, Bud Dearborn, know," She couldn't tell if he was fishing or not, but he gave no indicators when she said Bud's name instead of Eric. "But honestly, he couldn't have made it out here before she was gone, anyway. Response time out here ain't great, especially with something like that."
She shrugged as if in excuse of the small town ways, but he didn't seem too upset by the news as he nodded understanding.
"Well, Miss Stackhouse, it has been a pleasure."
"Same. We keep the fridge stocked for wandering pirates, if you're in the area again."
"With a bonny lass like you to serve it, how could I pass that up?" He spared her one last wink before she went about her tables.
She looked back when the bell above the door jingled. He had left a nice tip, but not so big that she felt bad.
"Interesting fellow." Sam commented idly while pouring a beer. Of course, he had heard the conversation. "Not one of Eric's."
It was a statement, not a question, but Sookie nodded her head in confirmation anyway. She was still processing the interaction. Besides the same curiosity all vampires had shown in her, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Anyone would wonder how she knew about vampires or that the druggie was carrying.
"I don't think I trust him."
"Well, he did step in and help with that mess Jeff created, which is more than most vampires I know would probably do."
"True." His concession was reluctant.
"Besides, what vampire have you ever trusted?"
Godric.
He hadn't spoken the name outloud, but she heard it all the same. Her shields had been open since the drifter entered the bar, and now, she was sorry for it.
"Yeah, well, look how that turned out."
Sam's face fell when he realized she had heard him. Sookie tried to once again remind herself that it wasn't his fault, but she still attacked her work with gusto for the rest of the night. If she could just keep busy, she wouldn't need to think about the complicated matter that was Godric.
A/N: You will have noticed some familiar faces. I like to think of my fan fictions as adaptations of Harris's work. Maybe, I am just too lazy to come up with my own plots (a very valid point actually), but mostly, I just like what she has done already with the exception of Sookie's relationships.
Hopefully, there will be enough new angles to the story that you all will enjoy it!