I remained in the gallery, staring at the paintings until I had to leave for closing at 1 in the morning. My mind had been clouded the entire time I had been with Eric that much was obvious. I'd always been certain with my love for him, but even when he said it, I had been unsure if it was true. After the way things ended with Bill, I had been practically waiting for something bad to happen to show me some other Eric. As if I thought some particular event or occasion would make him change and he would become someone I could hate and we would spiral down the same path as with Bill, where nothing but hurt and betrayal was the outcome. But as I sat in that unsuspecting art gallery, my mind had blown itself apart as I finally figured out that I had unconsciously been waiting for the end the entire time. The relationship I had with Bill had always felt fleeting, as though it might slip through my fingers at any moment, and I had expected the same with Eric.

But in fact he had grounded me, and no longer did I feel as though I was adrift in a sea out of my control. Even after I left for Fearie, thoughts and memories of Eric have always calmed me and made me feel secure, and I don't want an ending. I steel my resolve as I walk down the sidewalk through the streets of Shreveport, heading towards Fangtasia, and I remember the words that Eric had told me a long time ago.

This is the beginning.

The words had been lovingly whispered in my ear years before, and now I would make them true. I duck through an alleyway and change my outfit to be a bit more appropriate. I emerge on the next street over in a pair of tight black pants and a low cut blood red blouse with long wispy sleeves, the entire thing made of layer upon layer of a wispy material not possible for humans to create. I have a black tank top underneath and it's just barely visible through the cloth.

The line of people wrapped around the building watches me as I make my way up to the entrance, dressed to kill, especially since I took a pit stop in a gas station bathroom to fix my makeup. A vampire I don't recognize is stationed at the door, but has no problem letting me in with a cocky smirk, much to the dismay of many of the barely dressed women in line. I can hear them starting to demand they be let in, and a moment later he growls loudly, effectively ending their rants.

Eric is not on his throne as I had expected and hoped, so that I could go straight for him, and I don't see Pam anywhere nearby either. Scanning, I find that the only vampires are the ones I can see, and nobody is in Eric's office or the basement. Where could they be?

Deciding to wait, I perch myself on stool at the end of the bar, and wait for the bartender to make her rounds. She's a human girl, barely legal enough to drink, and I feel that she must be new. Her hands shake as she serves things up and more than a few times she overfills the glasses and has to pour some out. I can't help but be reminded of my first few weeks at Merlotte's, when I didn't know the names of 90% of the alcohols I could serve, and I take pity on her by waiting patiently.

When she finally comes around to me, I give her a bright smile and she seems to breathe a sigh of relief at not having me immediately demand something. "Do you know where Eric and Pam are?"

She shakes her head, and gives me wide slightly scared eyes. "He left right after opening then Pam took off not long after. She said she would be back but she hasn't yet, and my shift ended an hour ago and I don't know what to do because the other girl didn't show up. I can't keep up with all of the orders and I'm not sure who's paid us or not." Her thoughts scramble as she panics a little, and I see that her night has been consumed with an unsupervised bar of rowdy people and vampires who's demands are all weighing heavily on her. My eyes narrow as anger consumes me at the way Pam has left her on her own unprepared. The fury I'm feeling must be evident as a new spark of fear enters her mind and she breaks our eye contact. I rein in my emotions, and go to the other end of the bar, entering without a word and holding my hand out for her apron. She nervously hands it to me, and I give her another friendly smile. "Nancy, go home and get some sleep so you're ready for that Calculus test tomorrow." She is stunned, wondering how I know her name and that she goes to college, but assumes I must know Eric and that this is okay if I know so much about her.

Grateful as she's ever been to be sent home from work, she quickly retrieves her purse and I monitor her mind until she gets in her car and starts on the road to go home. My attention goes to the bar, and taking a moment to gather the layout which hasn't changed a bit since I was here last, I start taking orders and handing out drinks.

The vampire stationed at the door puts one of the ones who are normally just for show in his place to stand guard, and comes over to the bar not long after Nancy left. "Who the hell are you?"

I level him with a stare that has him taking a step back as his fangs drop, and I know that the other vampires in the bar, even though they're in different spots and some are not even looking at me, are alert to what I'm doing. I let my power flow with my words, making my hands tingle with an almost noticeable glow. "Go back to the door and when Pam gets here tell her that she has hell to pay for abandoning the new barkeep without help. I will handle it for the rest of the night." In Fearie I had learned that when I was reading someone's mind, I wasn't just looking, I was actually inside their head, and because of that I can plant thoughts as well as read them. I've never been able to read the mind of a vampire, since they are just a void to me, but I can still push them in the right direction. I push his mind towards the door, and he goes without another protest, sending the other vampire at the door back to his table.

As I serve the drinks, I quickly figure out who has paid and who is currently running up their 'tab', calling out the ones who thought they could fly under the radar in how full the bar was, and making sure nobody left without coughing up the money. I feel the eyes of the vampires on me as I say and infer things that no normal human could. With no scent for them to confirm what I am, they are all intrigued, and a few I'm sure would be willing to try and get it out of me if we weren't in public.

I lose my step and the roll I'm on for a moment as I realize that now that I'm primarily fae, none of them could touch me as they could when I was human. Before being in Fearie, I had been seen as nothing more than human, and thus I really had no ability to contest my treatment by vampires or anyone else. It was really a stroke of luck that I'd never been plucked out of my house and taken into captivity. Now just from seeing me all of the vampires here knew that I was something else, and I was just fine with that, because they would know better than to attack me.

The bar comes under control slowly, with droves of people rejoining the dance floor and going back to tables and booths until the only people around me are the ones for refills and those staying at the barstools. Several of the men try to catch my eye as I work, and I ignore the heated gazes of those humans who think I must be a vampire, with the way that I move so smoothly and efficiently behind the counter. I must admit while working that I've missed doing this sort of job. When I was at Merlotte's I was most comfortable behind the bar where I could stay in the same area and mix and serve without having to really think about it just because I was used to it. Idly I wonder if Eric will let me keep working in his bar, and for some reason I'm certain and hopeful that he will. The time moves by without my notice, and when I glance at the clock, I am surprised to see that I've only been here for half an hour. Since the hardest part, catching up, is over I start scanning the room as I used to always do, and am quick to find several underage teens.

The nearest vampire to me is sitting by himself at a table next to the bar, and I go to stand behind the part of the bar closest to him and wait a moment until he looks over at me with the typical vampire's disdain toward non-vampires. "The three sitting in the far corner booth are all underage. Would you mind escorting them out for me?" I lay on the charm thick, and he gives me an unwilling smile before standing and going to do what I asked. When I see him coming back inside I wave him up to the bar and hand him a free whiskey sized glass of Royalty Blend, which he takes appreciatively.

After taking and serving a few orders, I end up finding the glass empty and returned to the edge of the bar nearest to him. I thank him for bringing the glass back, and I know he hears even though he doesn't seem to pay attention, because he flicks his hand my way in dismissal. It's a little rude, and the 75 year old southern lady deep inside of me is appalled at his manners, but I just laugh lightly and shake my head as I walk away. It's another half an hour of glasses coming and going before I see Pam's hair forcing the crowd to part and allow her through so that she can come straight up to the bar. "And what, might I ask, are you doing back there?" She asks in her typical condescending tone.

"Well since you decided to leave a new girl here working by herself, someone had to help. Also whoever was supposed to relieve her didn't show up, so I sent her home. She worked at least an hour of overtime." My eyes are hard with my unhappiness and I know that Pam can feel it as her eyes divert from mine for just a second, and she decides to take a leap from the subject.

"I would have been here, but you caused my maker to have another fuss not long after he left here earlier. I had to go help him." She says it as though she's chiding a child, and it rubs me the wrong way.

"What did I do? I left my home well before dark, had dinner, and then visited some shops before coming here. If he had stayed put then I would have come to him." I don't mention that it was my plan to not be home, or that there were plenty of stupid things I had done in the past, but for the moment I was irritated and did not want to deal with her sour attitude.

"He showed up at your doorstep as soon as this place opened its door, and when he found you weren't there he called me to him. He's had me hunting through the neighborhoods trying to catch even a hint of where you'd gone." I feel that my throat is suddenly dry, so I grab a glass of ice water I've been sipping on, and swirl it in its glass.

"So where is he now?" I ask, taking my drink, and she smirks.

"On his way, since I called to him the moment I seen you. He should be here soon." Her grin is devilish and I nearly choke on my drink with the unexpected news. "Why don't you wait for him in his office while I take over here?" I nod, my nerves starting to creep up, and head down the hallway to his office. It hasn't changed since I was here, except for a newer computer and the leather couch has been replaced with a slightly more cushioned brown one. I stretch out on it, letting my scent go and sink itself into the fabric. Anticipation builds inside me the longer I wait, until I'm feeling almost giddy and mischievous in an odd way. Deciding that it will be fun for him at a later point, I start rubbing myself against his high backed leather chair. I know that we will likely not stay here for long, and I can just imagine him finding my scent embedded in his chair later on. Running my hand through my hair several times I pull out the loose strands and leave them on the floor in a few different places.

I'm about to go to the bar for a drink, when I hear a loud bang, and it sounds as though it's come from the back entrance. I don't have time to think more about it as the office door is thrown open, and Eric is standing before me, looking irate.