Lex felt cold against her skin and a terrible smell stung her nose. She breathed in deeply, trying to figure out what the smell was, but she felt stabbing in her ribs when she did so. Broken ribs? Lex thought idly.

Without opening her eyes, she tried to move her body gently, trying to regain a sense of where she was and what had happened. She vaguely remembered her night at the bar, but she often had nights that she couldn't remember—that was nothing new. She closed her eyes tightly as her head throbbed with the effort of adjusting her body. She started at the beginning of the night—with her first few drinks—and tried to see how much later she could remember. She remembered going to the bathroom with Kiley and talking about V. Had she done it? If she had, then it had had a seriously different effect on her than her previous encounters with the drug.
With a deep and painful breath, Lex opened her eyes and was immediately startled by the darkness that greeted her. She looked around as her eyes adjusted. Her heart began to pound as she realized she was in some sort of basement. She adjusted her body to a sitting position, although her body screamed at her as she did so. She felt a heavy weight on her left foot and her eyes widened as she saw a heavy metal cuff around her ankle. She leaned down to tug on it, and immediately winced as her chest cracked and white lines of pain flashed before her eyes. Definitely something broken, she realized painfully.

She found a wall behind her, and she leaned against it gently, surveying her situation. She saw a staircase in the corner of the room. Some sort of large metal machinery with poles and chains connected to it was attached to the ceiling in the center of the room. She grabbed the chain connected to her foot and found that she too was connected to the contraption. She swallowed hard and looked down to her pockets for a phone. Of course, it wasn't there.

Lex stared down at her jeans, noticing a large rip in her right knee. She pulled her jeans up, gasping at the pain in her chest as she struggled to pull the skinny jeans up above her knee. There was a large gash underneath where the pants were ripped. She fingered it tenderly. The blood was partially dried, while fresh blood was still slowly seeping from the center of the wound. The cut was huge—stitches, definitely, Lex realized. She surveyed the rest of her legs and was slightly interested to find that her favorite heels were gone, and she was left barefoot. She put a hand up to her face tenderly, and found swelling on the left side, as well as scrapes along her jaw and temple. Her hair was matted with what she assumed was dried blood.

And suddenly, Lex was terrified. She tugged on the chain that was clasped around her foot but found it was impossible to get her foot out. She looked around for a window or anything to tell her where she was or what time it was. The room was bare, though, and she hit her hands on the cold concrete floor in frustration.

"Damnit!" she yelled. She recoiled immediately as she heard the creaking of a door opening. She looked to the staircase to see light shining down it, the shadow of a person slightly scattering the light. Lex sunk deeper against the wall, giving in to the instinctive action of trying to hide herself. She watched as a man descended the stairs. She couldn't see what he looked like in the shadows, but she knew he would be coming toward her.

She tried to mask her face, her emotions. Whatever son of a bitch was keeping her there was not going to see how terrified she was, that was for sure. She put a hand against a wall and tried to brace herself in order to stand up to whoever was coming towards her. She struggled out of her sitting position and managed a slight, bent lean against the wall behind her.

The man let out a soft laugh as he stood before her.

"Please, don't get up," he said with a smirk as he put one hand on her shoulder and violently pushed her back to the ground.

Lex let out a pained groan before quickly shutting her mouth. She looked up at the man, trying to appear defiant.

He was tall. Of course, she was sitting and he was towering over her, but she could tell that even if she were standing, he would dwarf her 5'5 frame. Blonde shaggy hair was slicked back on his head, and his pale skin appeared to glow from the small amount of light that was let in from the staircase.

"Vampire," Lex growled with realization.

The blonde man smirked as he squatted down in front of her.

"Little human," he countered.

Lex narrowed her eyes at him as she took in his facial features. He was gorgeous, she realized, hoping her face would not betray how surprised she was at his beauty.

"Let me the hell out of here," she snapped at him, only to have one of his hands quickly reach out and harshly grab her face. A small gasp escaped her lips as he touched her injured jawline.

"You'll speak when spoken to." He let go of her face roughly, and Lex watched as he seemed to scent the air. He reached up to touch the matted blood in her hair. She turned her head away from him quickly, knocking his hand away in the process.

The vampire growled slightly, annoyed with the child's defiance. Two large hands quickly grabbed her around the waist and tossed her onto her stomach on the hard concrete floor. The chain around her foot had caught her weight midthrow and had yanked her harshly to the ground.

Lex gasped for breath and her hands clutched at her ribs. She felt like they were piercing her lungs, making it impossible for her to get any air into them. She tried to push herself up slightly, doing anything for some oxygen.

Her captor grabbed her by the neck and dragged her back up to a seated position against the wall. Lex coughed as her injured ribs were further disturbed and her already diminished airway was nearly cut off completely by the vampire's strong grip.

Lex's hand reached up and grabbed hold of his wrist. Her eyes pleaded with him as she struggled for breath. The vampire cocked one eyebrow at her before releasing her neck.

Lex took deep raspy breaths as oxygen attempted to fill her lungs once more. She was fairly certain she was going to die—if not from the vampire, then from lack of oxygen. Her body throbbed from being thrown around, and her throat burned from being held so tightly. Her mouth tasted like metal and she felt wetness form on her lips. Reaching up, she found blood there.

Finally admitting to herself what deep shit she was in, Lex raised her eyes to the vampire's and then dropped her head in a slight show of defeat.

"There's a good girl," the vampire said mockingly. He squatted in front of her again so he could see her at her level. "Ready to chat?" he asked.

Lex managed a single nod before looking up at him again. Fuck him, she thought. She hated seeming weak.

"Where did you get it from?" he asked sternly, a fierce look in his eyes.

"What?" Lex asked, clearly confused.

Eric adjusted himself so he was straddling the girl's legs, bringing himself closer to her. He knew that the girl before him had several broken ribs and he reached out one of his large hands to grip around the injured area. He squeezed tightly as he asked again.

"Where did you get the vampire blood?"

Lex gasped as her hands reached to her side, desperately trying to remove his firm hold on her side. She shivered slightly as her hands rested on his strong, cold ones.

"Stop, please," she managed to get out. He loosened his grip on her slightly and waited expectantly.

Lex swallowed nervously. "Somebody gave it to me," she began cautiously. "I don't normally do it—like I don't ever do it but I was beyond drunk last night and it just happened," she explained.

"Who gave it to you?" he asked, his hand remaining against her injured ribs.

Lex closed her eyes tightly for a moment. She wouldn't give up her friend, that was for sure. But she couldn't hesitate, she was certain the vampire could read her and know when she was lying.

"Some vampire named Ben?" she offered, as the vampire's name from the night before sprung up in her mind. She prayed that the man before her wouldn't know Ben and it would all be dropped.

"Ben," Eric mused. He wasn't familiar with all of the vampires in his area, but he didn't ever recall meeting someone named Ben.

"You've used before?" he asked her, curious about the way she had answered his earlier question.

"No," Lex lied, her voice as firm as possible.

"Liar." He nudged her injured side, his face masked of all emotion as the young human gasped in pain. He stood up and turned around, ready to retire to the bedroom that he kept at Fangtasia for his late nights. He figured the girl would be ready to talk by the following evening, when he awoke.

"Wait." The quiet plea stopped Eric, and he turned with a cocked eyebrow to the girl sitting on the ground. She was wiping wet blood from her lips, her legs still crumpled underneath her from when he had thrown her against the wall a few minutes earlier.

"Who are you?" Lex asked him.

"Interesting," Eric said to himself. He had assumed the girl had known exactly who he was—most of the people who came to his bar came simply to see him. He walked back towards her, stopping a few feet away.

"Eric Northman, Sheriff of Area 5," he replied.

"Sheriff," she mused, although she didn't seem surprised at all at the term.

"Hm," Eric replied, as he reached into the back pocket of his jeans. Lex watched as he pulled out a small card and read from it.

"And you are Alexsandra Nichole Christos, born May 3rd, 1988. 753 Brenton Street, Shreveport, Louisiana. 110 pounds, 5 feet 5 inches, brown eyes, black hair." He stopped for a second as he met her eyes. "And V-user," he added. "You know, my childe Pam was quite taken with you. Even she was surprised when I told her I had you down here. Perhaps she'd like to play later," he mused to himself.

Lex began trembling slightly as the situation really set in on her. She had done V, in a vampire bar, where apparently the vampire sheriff resided. Idiot, she mentally chided herself.

Eric appeared before her in a second, his vampire speed startling her for a moment. He bent down to her level. He grabbed her chin again, although gentler this time, and pulled her face up so he could meet her eyes.

A serene look appeared over his face as he spoke, "Who gave you the blood?" His voice was calm as he glamoured her.

Lex swallowed nervously again, but she recognized his attempt at glamour. She repeated her lie as steadily as possible, "I don't know. I was really drunk and someone just put it in my hand."

Eric's brow furrowed at her answer. His glamour really hadn't worked on her. He smirked in amusement.

"Are you aware that you can resist glamour?" he asked her bluntly.

"Hm," she answered, looking away from him. An even more amused look passed across Eric's face at her reply.

He reached out for her long black hair, which was still matted and knotted from the attack earlier. He ran his fingers through it slightly, before grabbing it and yanking her head to the side, exposing her neck to him. She struggled underneath him and he used his other hand to roughly hold her in place.

"Please," she asked quietly. Lex would not allow some vampire to drain her—that could not possibly be the way she was supposed to die. It would be ironic, sure, but she just couldn't accept that. She attempted to struggle under his grasp, but it was useless.

"Sh," he quieted her harshly as he leaned down to her neck. She tensed as she felt his mouth on her skin. She expected him to immediately bite her but instead he pulled away slightly.

"Have you been claimed?" Eric asked against her neck, his mouth still hovering close to her skin.

Alexsandra bit her lip slightly at the question—a question which brought many memories to the surface.

"No," she answered. Eric recognized sadness in her voice.

She felt the sheriff inhale along her neck, as if trying to recognize the vampire who had marked her.

Finally, his fangs pierced her skin. She let out a slight gasp as she felt him suck through the holes he had created, as he pulled her own blood from her body. She struggled for a moment longer before closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall. Eric adjusted himself slightly so he was leaning against the small girl. His left hand buried itself into her long dark hair, while his right hand kept her neck exposed to him.

Lex felt her head become light, and she silently cursed herself for being so weak and giving in so easily.

She didn't even notice when Eric pulled his fangs out of her and leaned back to observe the girl in front of him. Her head rested against the basement wall. Her skin was paler from her injuries and blood loss, but he could tell she was naturally olive toned. She had large, oval eyes, with long eyelashes that framed them. Her hands lay uselessly at her sides, her black chipped fingernail polish blending in with the dark ground. She had a tiny frame, especially compared to Eric's large one.

She was very young, he knew, both by human and vampire standards. He noticed her closed eyes and her exposed neck, and dipped his mouth down to meet the holes he had made, taking a few last draws of blood before suckling on the wounds until they were somewhat sealed.

"Human," he mused, "but different." Her blood tasted amazing to him. It was exactly what he had said—it seemed human, but almost more, like the blood hid some secret about her. He enjoyed it.

He grabbed her chin, and Lex's eyes slightly fluttered open to meet his.

She seemed to scan his face, as if trying to recognize him, before she passed out.