Evening, dear readers!

As always, thank you for all your support and please, keep it coming. There is nothing more motivating for a fic author than readers' feedback.

One of you asked about Bill, he is going to appear in the story soon I'm afraid. ;) In fact he has already been mentioned, not by name though.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3: Dead Wrong

It took a moment for Sookie to push her brief encounter with the mysterious vampire out of her mind. Thank god that Hunter was deeply asleep, his infinite curiosity of a child would surely lead to a lengthy discussion she'd rather avoid in her current frame of mind. A voice in the back of her head was telling her that she should get as far away from this place as she could at once; that she was running precisely into what she was trying to leave behind. However, the angel, or perhaps the devil, on her other shoulder was arguing that not every single person you meet at a Sunday mass is a good Christian, and not every vampire was a self-seeking killer.

Although… what else could that blondie have stashed in his car's trunk other than a black plastic bag with a corpse inside? She chuckled quietly at her own silliness as she rolled into the driveway leading up to a traditionally looking two-story house. A truck was already parked close to the porch and a man was standing with his back propped against it and his thumbs hooked under the belt hoops. He was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt and a pair of leather boots – so far her stereotype of a typical man of the South was being confirmed.

He pushed himself off the car as she pulled up, allowing her to get a good look at him in the shaft of light coming from the porch lamp. He had a gentle kind face with a dark five o'clock shadow and a mane of mousey hair that could do with a trim. Sookie noticed with curiosity that his thoughts were more difficult to read than your average person's, which suggested he was some kind of a supernatural, a were in all likelihood. She usually stayed out of other people's minds if she could help it, for the sake of all parties involved. This time, she assumed the invasion of privacy was justified. Even though she was confident in her self-defense skills, she was meeting a stranger in the dead of the night, with an innocent child sleeping in the backseat of her car.

She opened the door slightly and took the hand he offered, getting a disjointed stream of thoughts and impressions. She read his relief at how normal she looked and his appreciation of her looks… She quickly let go of his hand, she didn't need or want to hear more. He held no hostile intentions towards her and that was all that mattered. She felt comforted by his being a supe though and for the first time it hit her that she felt as if she belonged in a supernatural world. Maybe telepathy made her a part of this world without her even realizing. Perhaps she and Hunter belonged in this world in a way much more profound than Hadley's actions could even begin to involve them. Suddenly, Bon Temps felt just like the place to explore that mystery.

"Sam Merlotte," the man introduced himself with a smile. "The owner of the house."

"Shelby Pellerin, we talked over the phone." She hoped her southern accent was believable.

"Nice to meet you. Did you have a safe journey?" His eyes swept the car with interest.

"Yes, thank you. Also, I want you to know how grateful I am to you for meeting me at such an inconvenient hour."

"Nah, that's no trouble at all. It's still within my working hours, my bar is not even closed yet. So, shall we?" He gestured towards the house.

Sookie nodded and rounded the car to extract a slumbering Hunter from the backseat.

"That's your boy?"

"Yep, that's Josh," she replied with as much pride as she could muster up and it really wasn't all that hard. "He's the apple of my eye."

"Is it just the two of you or…?" Sam asked as they proceeded into the house. Sookie was almost certain that he wasn't asking only as her potential future landlord.

"It's just the two of us against the world. Actually, that's why we're here so late, we wanted to avoid saying goodbye to someone…" she trailed off and cleared her throat meaningfully. It was only a partial lie. "I mean, I have the sole custody but some men are just a law unto themselves."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry-"

"It's okay. If I'm going to live here, you should know these things."

She looked around the rooms and equipment and she was quite satisfied with what she was seeing. The rent was reasonable too; she wouldn't get a decent one-room apartment back in New York for the same sum.

"I bought the house at the tax auction, the previous owner had died recently. Been in his family for generations but he was the last in the line, a confirmed bachelor at that. I do have a more conveniently equipped house closer to the center, you know. At the time you called I wasn't sure if I could rent it so fast after Dawn… Well, it's available, we could go see it tonight even?"

"I like this one. It has a character, a soul." And it was quicker to get to the interstate if a situation requiring an immediate evacuation arose.

"I've practically just bought this one and intended to do some necessary repairs on it."

"That's okay, no problem."

"Great, then we'll draw all the paperwork tomorrow, well it's today already."

"Sounds good to me."

"Listen, you can stay for the remainder of the night. There's not even a bed and breakfast in Bon Temps and I won't have you sleep in the car with your boy."

"Thank you, Mr. Merlotte."

"Sam… it's just Sam."

"Okay then," she gave him a grateful smile. "Call me Shelby."

"I'll be on my way then. I'll pop in with the contract at… noon? You'll be up and awake by then? And, again I'm sorry if I'm prying, but do you have your eyes set on a job here already?"

"I haven't had the time to look yet but I will start tomorrow. In the worst case scenario I can go for a month or two just with my savings… but if you have heard about some opening… anywhere…"

"I have, actually. I'm a waitress short at my bar – Merlotte's. I don't know if you're overqualified for the job…" Sookie couldn't help but admire the guy's gift of the gab; he could sneak a subtle compliment into anything.

"I am so not overqualified," she chuckled. That was the absolute truth; she had restaurant work both in her real and fake résumé. "Looks like you killed two birds with one stone and got yourself a tenant and a waitress in one go."

They parted in smiles but Sookie wasn't sure she thoroughly liked the slightly hopeful expression in Sam's eyes. She wasn't looking for romance; that was one of the things that she didn't have a place for in her current life. Nonetheless, she was in no position to look a gift horse in the mouth. Job offers didn't grow on trees in a town the size of Bon Temps.

She heard Hunter stirring awake where she left him on the couch in the living room and hurried to his side.

"Aunt Sookie, where are we?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"We're… I think we're home, sweetie."

"Welcome to the zoo, hookah!"

"Thanks," Sookie laughed out loud at the line she was just greeted with by the Merlotte's cook, Lafayette. He was such a riot with his unique sense of humour and sexually suggestive way of clothing.

She had been in Bon Temps for just two days, during which she managed to unpack, make the house look quite homey and go through a list of things with Hunter that they were supposed to say if someone asked them any questions about their past. She also started to work with him on his shields. She was positive that with her help he'd be able to successfully develop them a lot quicker than she had on her own.

Right now he was digging in at his dinner whilst Sam was giving her a tour around her new workplace. She was quite impressed; the bar seemed clean, neat and well-organized. It had an amicable ambiance of small-town familiarity as well. She liked the people she was supposed to work with. She had already known Sam was a great reliable stable kind of guy. Now she'd also met Lafayette Reynolds and the other cook – Terry Bellefleur who was a little jumpy due to his war experiences but definitely had his heart in the right place.

The bar had three other waitresses. Arlene was a dyed red-head with two children and more husbands under her belt than she could count. Some crude slip-ups told Sookie she had rather conservative opinions on many things but she wasn't intentionally rude. Sookie certainly wouldn't say no to getting into the babysitting agreement that Arlene had with Holly – a waitress she had yet to meet who was also a single mother.

"Jessica should be here any minute now, the sun set half an hour ago."

If Sookie thought that statement sounded a little weird, it all made perfect sense with the waitress's arrival. Jessica turned out to be a beautiful red-headed vampire, which was a surprise given the animosity between vampires and weres. It was difficult to tell her age when she was turned, but she must have been very young.

Jessica was all smiles and politeness. "Hi, Shelby, it's nice to meet you!"

When she stopped closer, her fangs sprang down suddenly, making Sookie flinch.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Jessica gave her and Sam a nervous smile that made her look a ted grotesque before she covered her mouth with her hand trying to will the fangs back in. "It's just that you smell so good."

"Uhm, thanks?" Sookie was caught somewhere between amusement and alarm.

"I promise I'm not going to bite you, honest! It's just that my boyfriend was still at work when I rose so I'm technically without breakfast."

"Your boyfriend? So, he's not a vampire?" Sookie asked with genuine curiosity. Sure, there was a lot of talk on the TV about human-vampire relationships but to talk to someone who was actually living it…

"No, Hoyt's human." Jessica seemed even more radiant when talking about him. "We've recently moved in together, we're planning to get married."

"Wow, congratulations!"

"Thank you, that's sweet. Of course it's not that easy because Hoyt's mother is not so keen to welcome a vampire bride into her family, even a one year-old baby vamp, but… Well, enough about me. What's bringing you to Bon Temps? And how did Sam manage to persuade you to come work for him?"

"Why… would he have to try so hard?" Sookie asked feeling that she was missing some important piece of information. The sheepish look on Sam's face only confirmed that.

"You know, what with all the waitresses dropping like flies, strangled? The police still haven't caught the murderer."

"It didn't take that much to persuade me to work here… because I didn't know I might end up being a crazy killer's target!" The last part of the sentence came out as a shout, accompanied with a glare she sent at her new boss. At least he had the decency to look guilty.

"Jessica, please go and take care of the patrons. Look," he addressed Sookie in all seriousness, "no one is after Merlotte's waitresses, ok?"

"Then what was Jessica talking about? I have a son, Sam, I'm not looking for trouble."

"I admit, Amy and Dawn died in rather gruesome and tragic circumstances-"

"So, there have been two of them!" So far, she added in thought. "I sure see a pattern."

"There is a pattern, just not the waitressing one. Both of them, and that third woman, Maudette, they were well known fangbangers, Shelby. Those were all hate crimes."

In short, fangbangers loved the fang and a good bang. "Hate crimes connected to vampires…" Sounded plausible, especially in the deep red south.

"You don't have anything to worry about, right?" Somehow, Sam's question wasn't only rhetorical. Sookie hoped he wouldn't ask her out, she would hate to have to turn him down. Oh the awkwardness that would follow…

"I don't," she sighed. At least not for that reason. However, could you really feel safe with a killer on the loose even if you weren't exactly their type? Perhaps she should do some brain scanning whilst on the job. It would be at least twice as tiring as regular waitressing but if it could help to stop the crime wave, she wouldn't hesitate to help.

After two entire weeks Sookie still didn't pick up the faintest clue in anyone's brain that would indicate that they were the killer. That could mean two options. Either she hadn't yet met the murderer, which was gradually becoming less and less probable given the population of Bon Temps, or the murderer was a degenerate sociopath without a conscience, firmly convinced of the righteousness of their actions.

Unfortunately, quite a number of people were perfectly convinced that what had happened was right. Sookie lost the count of rednecks who were of the opinion that those women were sluts and they deserved what they got for fornicating with them deaders. The prevalent belief was that it was a bloodthirsty vampire that ended the lives of Amy, Dawn and Maudette. Rare voices of reason argued that it was unlikely given that they hadn't been drained.

Jessica was lucky not to be able to read the customers' minds, she had enough of a hard time already being Bon Temps' only vampire. Sookie grew very fond of her, as well as of Tara, Lafayette's mouthy cousin, who had the habit of always telling it like it was and drinking her sorrows late into the night.

Life in Bon Temps agreed with both Hunter and Sookie. He hadn't had any real friends to miss back up north and was happy to live with his family in a real home, not amongst strangers. Not that she could let it show, Sookie was shocked at just how well they both fitted in. She was a born and bred New Yorker while Hunter hadn't lived anywhere else other than in a big city.

Sookie was also becoming more and more at ease with… well, with life really. She wasn't expecting to see danger lurking in every nook and cranny anymore. The jittery phase of constantly looking back over her shoulder had passed. People of Bon Temps bought her story of a single mother fleeing from her abusive ex without hesitation. As for vampires, she hadn't met any other than Jessica in two entire weeks. However, the saying about not counting your chickens before they're hatched hadn't been coined for nothing.

Sookie was behind the bar when a pair of newcomers came in, a slight glow of their skin and two voids instead of two minds instantly informing Sookie they were vampires. The female was blonde, very beautiful and wearing a permanent smirk on her lips. A black leather skirt and jacket encased her flawless figure. For some inexplicable reason, she had a pair of sunglasses perched on her head.

Even though she was quite tall, the man behind her was dwarfing her, as well as everyone else in the vicinity. He must have been 6 ft. 4 and his staggering height contributed to the air of dominance he was radiating. He was also very beautiful but in a thoroughly masculine way. His short hair was of an even paler blonde than his companion's, but his condescending smirk was perfectly matching hers.

It took Sookie a moment to realize that she had already met him before, on her very first night in Bon Temps. He was the mysterious vampire standing by the road in the middle of nowhere. A chill ran down her spine as she exercised every ounce of her self-control to school her face and body language not to show her internal anxiety.

Still, the word "vampires" quietly slipped from her lips.

"Yeah, how did you know?" asked Jessica, stopping beside her as the two vampires glided to a free table, handing out leaflets on the way. "Most people don't realize right away."

"Oh… I don't know." Sookie shrugged her shoulders, trying to appear unassuming. "Something about the way they walk, I suppose."

"You nailed it!" The red-head burst in soft giggles and hunched in imitation of the blonde vampire. "Sometimes Eric looks like an overgrown bat. I guess he thinks he's more menacing carrying himself around like that."

Sookie silently agreed with him. "Eric?"

"Yeah, his name's Eric Northman, he's the area sheriff. The vampire with him is Pam, his progeny."

"His progeny?"

"Eric is Pam's Maker, so she is his progeny, child if you like."

"Ah I see, are they your friends?" Sookie continued her discreet interview. Perhaps their presence at Merlotte's was completely unrelated to her person.

"Sorta. My maker was drained by dealers of V and as I'm still practically a baby vamp, they check on me from time to time to see that I, you know, don't go on killing sprees making a bad name for all the other vamps," she chuckled and Sookie followed suit. "I'd stayed with them for a while but they let me go, as I'm apparently so annoying. Go figure."

"Do you want to attend to them?" Sookie asked with a barely concealed hope.

"God, no!" Jessica laughed out. "I'm so glad you got that part of my old section. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're ok, for vamps," she added, "but they're not here just to say hello to me. They stop by only if they have business in the neighborhood. And they always try to steal clients for Fangtasia, that's Eric's bar, and they laugh their asses off at me for the fact that I live like a human. But that's my choice, isn't it?"

"Of course, it is. No one has a right to judge you. Self-righteous baboons," Sookie said, feeling indignant on Jessica's behalf. Apparently, Pam and Eric were in ideological vampire middle ages.

"That's what I always tell them," the red-head nodded and patted Sookie's shoulder. "You'll be fine."

"Right…" she muttered to herself and directed herself to the table of doom, as she called it, with resignation. Hyenas, she thought as she saw them laughing at something loftily.

"Welcome to Merlotte's, how can I help you?" she asked upon reaching them, the most ordinary expression on her face she could muster. She tried to avoid eye-contact but after the silence dragged to border on awkward she was forced to look up from her little notepad. She didn't like what she saw. Their eyes were roving all over her body while their nostrils were flaring... Were they sniffing her? That was just plain rude. For the first time, she actually wanted to know what was going on in her interlocutors' heads.

She took a deep breath. "How can-"

"Are you in the habit of calling all your customers 'self-righteous baboons'?" Vampire Eric asked looking up at her from under his sarcastically arched eyebrows. Sookie blanched, of course they heard every word of her conversation with Jessica. Vampires and their superhuman hearing… Way to go insulting a vampire area sheriff…

She cleared her throat. "I was speaking in general… about… persons who don't believe in the constitutional right to pursue happiness… I wasn't talking about…" She trailed off seeing the vampire's smirk expanding. He looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. He wasn't pissed off as she initially presumed; he was teasing her. Sookie felt hot under the collar.

"Are you in the habit of eavesdropping on all unsuspecting people?" she snapped ironically.

"Oh, I was not eavesdropping." The smirk didn't disappear for a second from his overconfident too beautiful for everyone's sake face. "I simply couldn't help overhearing."

"Right," Sookie rolled her eyes. "In my experience, if you try hard enough, you can help not to hear things you don't want to hear."

This time he gave her a grin that was decidedly naughty. Of course he would be the type of guy that liked to stick his nose where it didn't belong.

"You know, not important. Would you actually like to order something?"

Eric didn't seem to pay any attention to her question.

"You're new, we haven't seen you here before."

"I would remember," the female vampire spoke for the first time and her voice was practically dripping with lechery.

"I haven't seen you before either," Sookie retaliated, deadpanned.

"Haven't you?" Eric asked with the gentleness of the wolf from the story about little Red Riding Hood. Sookie knew instantly that he remembered their first encounter as clearly as she did, probably even clearer. And she just thoughtlessly let him stick his foot in the door.

"I am going to ask you for the last time whether you want to order anything. A Tru Blood? If you don't, you should probably stop blocking the table."

"Are you on the menu?" he asked suggestively.

Sookie grinded her teeth. "I am a lady, mister, and you're going to treat me as such, or you won't be welcome here any longer."

"Fine." Pam appeared to be disappointed, chagrined and amused all at once. "O positive, AB negative. Please," she added with extra sweetness.

"Coming right up," Sookie nodded giving them an obviously forced smile that came out more like a grimace.

"Wow, I'm impressed! You captured Eric's attention." Jessica gave her a well-done thump on her back as she followed her to the back of the bar where Sam stored a few bottles of synthetic blood. "He's usually so picky. Not that you're not hot or anything, 'cause you totally are," Jessica assured hastily. "But he's usually so…No one is worthy of my attention… I can't stand this vermin anymore… Humans have become so predictable and boring," she recited in a low tone, producing a perfect imitation of Eric.

Sookie couldn't help but chuckle. "I treated him like crap." Which was probably a mistake of unimaginable proportions. Who knew what his intentions towards her were? He was obviously aware of the fact that she saw him that night two weeks ago when he was probably conducting some kind of illicit activity.

"Well then, treating him like crap must have done the trick. He's got dozens of women, and men, throwing themselves at his feet every day. No wonder you more than blipped on his radar if you let him know you don't think he's god's gift to women."

Great, Sookie mentally facepalmed herself. Apparently, she was doing exactly the opposite of what she intended. If only someone had warned her that cold-shouldering was such a turn-on for a horny bloodsucker.

"Damn, I hoped that I'd find some expired blood," Sookie remarked sorrowfully as she retrieved two bottles of the requested type. "Would he know it if I spat in it?"

Jessica laughed. "Hate to break it to you but he would probably take it as an invitation. Vampires enjoy body fluids , blood and tears-"

"I don't even want to go there!" Sookie shook her head and carried the Tru Blood to throw it in the microwave.

So, Eric wasn't particularly attracted to women who fawned over him… She could use that to her advantage, even if she'd pray for a lobotomy to forget what she was about to do.

"Did you smell that?" Pam said excitedly as Sookie stomped away, her brown ponytail swinging indignantly. "It was delicious…"

"It would taste even more delicious," he admitted, his eyes beadily watching the waitress until she disappeared out of sight, and even then he continued to revel in her titillating scent lingering in the air.

"I saw her first!" Pam gritted her teeth.

Eric let out a throaty laugh. "As if that would matter. But actually, I saw her first. I got a glimpse of her the night of the last errand for Talbot. Had I known what I would be dealing with, I would have come to find her as soon as I got back from New Orleans."

"But what are we dealing with exactly? I've never met a human with such a mouth-watering smell."

"Of that I am not sure as of now. But I will enjoy finding out."

"She's quite mouthy, and doesn't seem too friendly towards vampires. The Fellowship of the Sun, you think?"

"No, her attitude doesn't stem from what we are; she is friends with Jessica. She was angry because we didn't treat her like a lady," he said, his lip curling up into his trademark smirk.

"Oh, Eric, where are your manners?" Pam sniggered, clucking her tongue. "The barbaric era of the Vikings is long gone. You should finally embrace the modern civilized society."

"Modern civilized society should be called the new Middle Ages," Eric replied contemptibly.

"Aren't we lucky Nan didn't pick you for her mainstreaming posterboy… Oh, look, your pretty live bottle is carrying our liquid boredom. I'm not gonna drink this shit. Perhaps we could just glamour her into taking a short break outside and have a sip-"

"Pam!" he all but growled. "She is mine, don't you forget that," he warned her before Sookie was back with them to complete their order.

This time, however, there was not a trace of hostility about her. Quite the contrary, the smile plastered on her face was blinding.

"Hey back! Listen, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot and I don't like it. Like you said, I'm new and so far, I've only made friends. I want to keep it that way."

One of Eric's eyebrows skeptically rode up again, as he scrutinized her in silence. She stifled the mad urge to throttle him – not that she had any chance of succeeding – and continued to smile dazzlingly.

"What's your name then?" he asked leaning back in his chair in an imperious way that sent the clear message – I own the world. If she wasn't a fugitive running from vampires, she could call it sexy. But she really couldn't let herself deem any part of him sexy, absolutely not. Besides, the guy was simply infuriating. She just had to grin and bear it.

"I'm Shelby Pellerin," Sookie informed him eagerly. A refusal to introduce herself would look suspicious and would undoubtedly peak his curiosity. He could even have her investigated or something. She wouldn't put it past him.

"That sounds indigenous, yet you're clearly not from here."

"Well, Louisiana is not just Bon Temps, is it?" she said before she could stop herself. "Anyway, can I learn your names?"

"Don't you know them already?" Eric glanced at her challengingly.

"I guess you're right. Enjoy your blood then." She sent the most worshipping look in Eric's direction and cleared off mentally persuading herself not to puke.

"Perhaps she's not as interesting as I first thought…" Pam sighed after her departure.

"Oh, she definitely is," he argued as he listened into the hustle and bustle of the bar to stumble on her being rather short with a patron that reached the overly friendly stage of intoxication.

Now please follow that review chapter link. ;)

Btw, what did you think about the last episode? I enjoyed it a lot but it was maddening as a finale, with almost every storyline left open. I was pushed off the cliff way too many times. As for Eric-Sookie-Bill scene, I had an insane urge to throw something heavy at the screen while Sookie was forgiving Bill… I guess silly drama trumps character growth. Oh, well.

Em