Chapter 2:

The smell of bacon cooking in a frying pan along with sausage wafts through the house as Axel is seen walking down the stairs and walks into the kitchen, looking somewhat sleepy. There is music playing in the background and is obviously a country song. The song playing is Beyond Here Lies Nothing, by Bob Dylan.

Sookie turns around and, upon seeing Axel, smiles one of her bright, inviting, smiles.

"Well, it's good to see you up, and you're just in time for breakfast!" She announces happily.
Axel yawns audibly and sits down in one of the chairs at the dining room table.

"Sookie, there's something I need to talk to you about." He says as Sookie places a plate in front of him, which has a few piece of bacon on it, along with a piece of sausage and two eggs.

"Sure thing, what is it?" She asks as she walks back towards the stove to get herself some food for herself.

"Well, I was thinking for a bit before I went to sleep last night, and I decided that if I'm going to be living here with you while you teach me to control my telepathy, I should get a job to help you pay for the extra expenses I'm probably going to cause you." Axel explains as he takes a fork Sookie hands to him when she comes back to the table and sits down.

"Really Axel, It's no problem at all. You don't need to get a job."

Axel begins shaking his head as he pokes his fork into a sausage and bites a bit off, chewing it slowly.

(I want to Sookie, I could not, in good conscience, live here for free…hey, this thought speech is quite handy!)

Sookie nods with a soft smile on her face.

"It definitely can be helpful, but other times it can be quite annoying, I mean, my job…." Sookie stops and gets a look on her face that makes it seem like a light bulb just went off over her head

"Hey! Why don't we see if my boss, Sam, can give you a job at the bar I work at? It would give you the satisfaction of paying me for living here, and you'd be able to practice your mental shielding from other people's thoughts!"

Axel's face lights up at the idea

"Sookie! That's a great Idea...The only problem is that I'm not of legal age to work in a bar."

Sookie waves her hand in a dismissing manner, her smile never leaving her face.

"Pshaw, no worries. All we need to do is sweet talk Sam. He's been looking for more workers lately that he would be able to make an exception...as long as you don't have an issue with vamps. Main reason being is that my boyfriend is one and secondly reason is they seem to have been coming into the bar more and more frequently as of late."

Axel's eyes went wide as a burning anger welled up inside him, but managed to keep it in check.

"What's the matter Axel?" Sookie asks.

Axel gave a weak smile as he explained.

"Sookie...my parents were killed by a vampire. Not the same one that was chasing me last night...at least I don't think it's the same one, since I didn't get to see who actually killed them. I was too busy running for my life."

Sookie's smile instantly vanishes. She grabs hold of one of Axel's hands and rubs it gently, in a soothing way.

"Honey, I'm so sorry. If I'd have known, I wouldn't have mentioned vampires at all." She says, concern in her voice.

"S'ok Sookie, there's no way you could have known, even if you read my mind, you wouldn't have found out, since I keep that memory in a deep part of my mind. But if I need to be tolerant of vampires to work at the bar, I guess I'll have to be. Besides, judging a whole group, based on the actions of a few, seems morally wrong anyway."

Sookie nods and gives Axel a small smile, taking her hand away and looking at her food.

"Well, what do you say we finish eating and then we can head over to the bar before my shift to see if Sam will give you a job?"

Axel nods and begins eating his food, feeling much better now that he has a general idea of what he is doing with his life now.

Later that day:

Sookie pulls her car, a slightly run down yellow car, into the employee parking lot of Merlotte's Bar and Grill, which is at the back of the bar and then parks it and begins getting out. Merlotte's is a rustic looking establishment that stays true to the Louisianan building style, it is built out of wood that would breath easily so as not to trap a lot of hot air seeing as how hot it is right now, it makes sense. The wood however, seems to even be sweating in the intense heat, and with the sun beating down on it, only seems to amplify the effect.

Axel and Sookie begin exiting the car, the sun beating down on them and the sound of bugs blaring in their ears.

"Well...here we are." Sookie declares, walking around the back of the bar up to its entrance, which is a screen door that opens with a loud creak, in her uniform, which consists of a white tank top with a green patch attached to the left breast that reads "Merlotte's Bar & Grill" In addition, she is wearing black shorts and black Reebok sneakers, with her hair tied up into a ponytail. The outside is covered in a dark, almost maple looking wood. It seems to be there to allow the place to let hot air out for the building when the days get blisteringly hot. However the wood even seems to be sweating from the intense heat that is practically cooking everything outside at the moment.

Axel looks at the building with an appraising look as he follows Sookie inside. Inside, the wood that is on the outside, seems to almost extend and cover the entire interior. The wood is a brown color, which goes with the wooden tables and chairs which are a more light brown, almost blondish color. There are booths that extend from the left side of the door, all the way around the bar to where a hallway, assumingly to the kitchen and employee area, is situated. On the right side is a small jukebox and a pool table with a stained glass overhanging light.
Already there are people moving around and, from what can only be assumed, are setting up for the evening of business that is to follow later on in the day. One of the women, a woman with flaming red hair, whom Axel finds from reading her mind, is named Arlene. At the moment, she is thinking about anything she may need to do before heading home after work. At the bar counter, there is a dark skinned woman, who is slim with dark hair in a braided style. Sookie seems to recognize her and walks up to the bar, Axel following along.

"Hey Tara, is Sam in?" She asks as the girl, whose name is Tara, puts down a glass she is drying.

"Hey Sook. Yeah, he's in his office." She answers as her eyes travel over to Axel and look him over.

"Who's this you have with you?" She asks.

Axel extends a hand in greeting and smiles.

"My name's Axel Twilight, nice to meet 'cha"

Tara takes his hand in a firm shake and gives her own smile, which shows perfectly white teeth that are amplified by the color of her skin.

"My name's Tara Thornton, nice to meet ya….Axel Twilight." She replied, trying the feeling of Axel's name on her tongue, which due to her southern accent sounded like Axel Twahlaht.

Axel takes his hand back while Tara picks up the glass she was drying again.
"So, you here for a job or something Axel?" She asked as she finished the glass and started on another one.

Axel nodded in response.

"Yeah, I am…we were just coming in to ask Sam if I could have one, since Sookie mentioned he's been looking for more workers recently."

Tara nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he has been looking for some more help lately, since the last two workers we had…..quit, due to certain circumstances. Anyway, you new in town or something…you must be because I would remember you."

"You could say that, currently, I'm living with Sookie since she has been so kind to offer me a place to stay until I get my life under control…I need the job so I can pay rent to repay her for the immense amount of kindness she has shown me."

Tara gave Sookie a look that only they must be able to understand, seeing as how they are apparently friends.

"Well Tara, I guess I'll see you in a few minutes once Axel and I finish up with Sam." Sookie piped in, signaling that it was time to move on.

"I'll be here." Tara states as Axel and Sookie turn towards the hallway that leads to a kitchen hole that must be where the waitresses pick up the orders of food, to the right is a door that has a gold plate on it that simply reads "Manager"

Sookie stops in front of the door and knocks on it a few times, waiting for a response.

"Come in." A voice calls from behind the door.

Sookie opens the door and takes Axel inside. The room is cluttered with papers and filing cabinets. On the left wall there is a desk with a computer on it and sitting in front of it is a man with short dirty blonde hair that swivels around his head in an almost halo like manner. He's wearing a plain grey T-shirt with faded blue jeans. He turns around in his chair and smiles at Sookie with a smile that looked more than one a boss should give.

"Hey Sookie, what can I do for you?" He asks as his head turns to Axel.
"Well Sam, I kinda need a favour of you."

"Would it have anything to do with this guy?" He asked, jerking his head in my direction.

Sookie nodded with her bright smile.

"As a matter of fact yes, Axel and I were hoping you could give him a job here. I mean you've been mentioning how you wish we had more people around here and I thought this would be a great to replace one of the waitresses we lost."
Sam puts his head in the palm of one of his hands and gets a thoughtful look on his face.

"Sookie, if you don't mind my asking, is he even eighteen? He sure doesn't look it." Sam asks, not taking his hand off his hand, but simply looking up at Sookie from his sitting position.

"No I'm not, but I can assure you Sam that you would have no worries about me…I'm more responsible for my age then you would think." Axel says, piping into the conversation, earning the look Sam was giving Sookie, which is now aimed at him.

"Axel right? Look, I would love to give you a job but I just can't, if I get caught employing a minor in my bar, I could get shut down, or worse, put in jail." Sam explains, Axel's face never losing it's now determined expression.

"Then we just wouldn't let anyone find out would we? What they don't know won't hurt 'em."

Sam shakes his head.

"Axel I don't think that's the best idea."

Axel stops and begins thinking for a minute, with Sookie and Sam both looking at him intently. He then gets a look on his face that practically scream" Aha!"

"The how about this, you hire me for the time being, and as soon as someone starts getting suspicious, I'll quit, saying that I got a better opportunity somewhere else? They would never suspect anything after that. Of course we would have to space the quitting idea by a week or two so as not to draw suspicion."

Sam's serious face turns to one of surprise, while Sookie's turns to one a satisfaction.

"Well Sam, what do you say?" Sookie asks, now looking at Sam.

Something that only Sam and Sookie could only understand was shown in the look that Sookie gave Sam, and in the end, he let out a heaving sigh.

"Fine, but as soon as someone asks, you're done. And if by some stroke of luck you manage to pull the charade off until you're eighteen, you can have a permanent job here." He explains as he stands up and shakes Axel's hand.

Before Axel can thank Sam, a knock is heard at the office door.

"Yes?" Sam asks, letting go of Axel's hand, everyone turning towards the door as it opens, and in steps a woman.

He build is one that can be described as slim but is also accompanied by curves that don't make her look like a rail like the women in fashion magazines. She has blonde hair that shines in the light and has platinum blonde streaks where the sun hits it. Her legs are long and built and her chest is of average size. The most prominent feature of her is the piercing blue eyes she has, hidden underneath her long, dark eyelashes. She has on a pastel coloured, blue v neck shirt with a necklace circling her neck, with a flaming red ruby at the end of it. Her shorts consist of bright pink pattern to them which help the necklace to stand out more and on her feet are a simple pair of sandals.

"May I help you?" Sam asks as the woman smiles, showing perfectly white teeth.

"Actually you can." She replies, her voice sounding like a melodic set of ringing bells, very pleasant to the ears.

"My name is Alexia Rebecca-Rose" I heard there was an offer for work here so I was wondering if you have a free spot?" She asks, her radiant smile never leaving her face.