Much to the disappointment of many of the staff at Merlotte's, Persephone did not return for the next two nights. When she finally did return, it was Lafayette who first saw her.
"Oh, you're back," he said, pouring himself a drink from the bar, "The others will be damn glad. I think you left this place pining."
"They don't even know me," she replied.
"They don't have to, girl. In this town, if you're a nice looking piece of ass, such as yourself, you're fair game to all. Even some of the nastier girls we get in here."
She chuckled and he smiled, glad she wasn't offended. "Does that make you fair game too, then?"
"Ooh. I like the way you think. But unfortunately for you, I don't swing that way."
"Because I'm a vampire?"
"Uh-uh. Because you ain't got a dick," Tara answered as she arrived just in time to catch some of the conversation.
"I see... I'm sure I could change your mind," Persephone said seductively, staring into his eyes.
"Don't you try any of that vampire-mind-fuck shit with me," Lafayette told her, walking back towards the kitchen.
She had only been joking, but Persephone smirked anyway, then suddenly a warm bottle of Tru Blood was placed in front of her. She glanced down at it and saw that it was A-negative, her favourite. Looking up, she found Sam standing in front of her with an apologetic look.
"How did you know?" she asked him.
He frowned. "To give you blood?"
"My favourite type, I meant."
He looked at the label and shrugged.
"I just picked one up. Didn't even look to see what it was."
"I guess it was just fate, then," Persy suggested.
"It's his way of saying sorry," Lafayette explained as he walked past them, "for being an asshole to you."
Sam gave him a look of displeasure and turned back to Persy.
"Well, if that's what it is, then I accept," she smiled, drinking from the warm bottle.
Sam watched with fascination as she gulped down the synthetic blood.
"Would you have a drink with me?" she asked, placing the bottle back down.
"Oh, I don't like blood," he joked.
Tara scoffed at his lame attempt at a joke.
He looked over at her and turned back to see Persy giving him a sweet half-smile. He poured himself some whiskey and was about to drink it, when the phone rang. He left to go and answer it. While he was gone Persy picked up his glass and bit her finger, squeezing a drop of her blood into the golden liquid. It dissolved instantly leaving no trace. Having glanced out at her from the bar, Lafayette witnessed this bizarre behaviour. He knew what effects vampire blood had on people, being a dealer of it himself, but he had no idea why a vampire would be spiking someone's drink with their own blood.
Sam came back moments later and they raised their drinks with a smile, drinking what remained of them. Persy watched Sam polish off the whiskey and was satisfied. She had done the same thing to the shot of tequila he had given her the night he found out she was a vampire, hoping that once she had left he would have knocked back the untouched drink himself. Unfortunately, Lafayette had been the one to drink the shot, unaware that it contained a drop of her blood. What he also didn't know was that it was the cause of the crazy sex dreams he'd had about her the past couple of nights, dreams that Sam was now bound to have. But this wasn't why she spiked the drinks.
"You sticking around?" Sam asked her.
"I've got the whole night ahead of me," she replied, and she could tell that Sam was pleased.
Sookie arrived for her shift a half hour later and spotted the vampire at the bar.
"Wow, you must really like it here," she commented, putting on her apron.
"It has a certain charm," Persy replied, casting Sam a mischievous look as he glanced over.
"Well, I'm really glad more vampires are coming to places like this. Once people get used to the idea of being around you, they'll see you ain't so bad. It's sad. I mean, getting to know a vampire's been great. They're so interesting... and nice."
"Don't make the mistake of trusting all of us, Sookie," Persy warned her, "There are an unfortunately few amount of vampires like Bill and I, who regard humans kindly. I admit that it took me a long time to learn to be civilised once more after I was turned."
Sookie's grin faltered, but having been brought up to maintain a constant polite exterior, she took it in her stride and moved off to start waiting her tables.
Sam was telling Persy about the Descendents of the Glorious Dead meeting that had been held the night before. Bill had been invited to give a speech about what it was like to fight in the Civil War. She was sorry to have missed it, but hearing Sam describe it was a lot funnier than she supposed the actual event would have been.
"Were you around for that?" he asked her.
"Ohhh, yes," she smiled secretly.
He looked at her questioningly, but became distracted by Bill, who had suddenly entered the diner and was now looking around for Sookie. Sam frowned.
"You really don't like Bill, do you?"
"Why would you say that?" he replied sarcastically.
"Is it that he's a vampire?" She paused, and then went on, "Or that he's with Sookie?"
He cast a dark glance at her and she knew she'd hit the right button. She smirked, but it quickly fell from her face as she flicked her head towards the doorway at the exact same moment Bill did. Sam was alarmed by her sudden reaction. She got up from her seat just as the door opened and the bar fell silent as three vampires entered, smirking and looking for trouble. Persephone looked at Bill, who was standing protectively in front of Sookie and gave him a nod of reassurance. She would take care of them, even if he had led them there. The female, who she knew as Diane, began straddling a surprised looking young man, while the two males, Liam and Malcolm searched the room for easy targets. Everyone who was working out the back had come out to see what was going on. The fear in the room was uncanny. Liam spotted Persephone and his eyes widened excitedly.
"Ooh, looky what we have here. Our old friend, Pa -rsy."
"No need to insult me, Liam. Not in front of all these nice folk."
"Why? 'Cause I called you old?"
"No, because you claim that I'm your friend."
He sped to a place directly in front of her in an attempt to intimidate her, but she didn't even blink. He chuckled.
"Alright, I get it. You and Bill already have dibs on some of these bloodsacks. You tell us who and we promise we won't touch 'em."
Although he towered over her, Persy stepped forward and seemed to gain the upper hand, her stance surprisingly threatening. Liam took a step back. Malcolm watched from nearby, amused.
"No. What you three can do, is take your vile, pathetic-excuse- for- a -vampire asses and get the hell out of here."
"Or what?" Liam laughed, making crude movements with his tongue at her.
She smiled in a way that was deeply unsettling. Large, sharp fangs slid from her mouth and she moved to Diane who was still harassing the young man. She pulled her off and threw her across the ground like a ragdoll. The surprised vampire got to her feet, fangs bared, and hissed at her.
"If you don't leave, there's going to be a hell of a mess for Sam to clean-up. And I don't want to have to put him through that."
"You think you can take us? You're the one he's going to be cleaning up off the floor," Malcolm retorted.
"Arghh!" A battle cry sounded as someone came at Liam in an attempt to take him down, but Liam's vampire reflexes were faster. He grabbed them and tossed them aside. In a flash, Persephone sped across the room, though no one was able to trace her movement, and caught the man before he hit the floor. She looked down and saw it was the diner's new cook, Terry. From over at the bar, angry as hell, Sam picked up a sharp wooden object and tried to attack Liam, but, again, the vampire was too fast, grabbing him and throwing him up against the bar's back wall, shattering many of the bottles. Infuriated by the human's attempt to attack him, Liam pulled Sam's head to the side and was about to tear out his throat when an enormous force picked him up and hurled him out of the diner's front window.
Persy stood protectively in front of a stunned Sam. She was surprisingly calm, though her eyes were burning with anger. Both Diane and Malcolm snarled at her, but made no further attempts to attack. Liam, on the other hand, came in through the door, extracted a rather large shard of glass from his neck, dropped it to the ground and bellowed. He came towards her again, but she caught him by the throat, holding him up in the air. It looked absurd; a woman of moderate height with such a large man clutched in the air as though he weighed no more than a shoe. He clawed at her hand and struggled furiously, but there was no way she was going to let him go. She was absolutely seething.
"Leave," she hissed.
She threw him to the ground. Knowing he was beaten, Liam did not risk another attack. The three defeated vampires backed out of the door, jeering at their vanquisher. As soon as they were gone, Persephone retracted her fangs and surveyed the damage. Luckily, no one had been sitting directly in front of the window that had been knocked out; most people had left their seats as soon as Terry had been thrown across the room.
She surveyed the faces of those around her, all of whom were shocked and frightened, with a select few even impressed. Nonetheless, they were all safe. That was the important thing. She looked at Sam, who was still behind her rubbing his throat and obviously taken aback by what had just happened.
"I'm sorry about the damage. I'll pay for it," she told him, "Are you alright?"
He didn't reply, but continued to stare at her, speechless.
