Business was slow during the first two hours that Fangtasia was open, and for that Sam was profoundly glad. It gave him time to learn the drink specials and figure out where all the different brands of alcohol were kept. Ginger and Anne Marie handled most of the tables, with Elise barely pulling her weight. The younger girl spent most of the time wandering around the club and staring back at the employee entrance, clearly waiting for Eric to arrive. She also found any excuse that she could to go out back.

Sam noticed that for a fangbanger, she didn't seem interested in serving any of the tables with vampire patrons. He could only suppose that she had a thing for Eric exclusively, which was odd because most fangbangers would roll over for any vampire that crossed their path.

"Dat girl de worst waitress I ever see," said Anne Marie, coming over to pick up a round of Type B Negative True Bloods for a rowdy group of young vampires from New Orleans who were waiting to introduce themselves to Eric. Sam wondered idly if they knew Christopher Santiago. "Plus she smell like nutria poop."

"Good thing we don't have to worry about food," said Sam, putting the bottles on his wife's serving tray.

"Yes. Dis job easy enough, and dem vampires tip good, but still 'nuff work for three waitress and we only got two an a half."

"Next time she goes out back, follow her," Sam suggested.

"Sam! I ain' got time!" Anne Marie hurried off with the Bloods. Sam knew she wasn't about to keep the vampires waiting.

"Ginger, any chance you can get Elise to hustle a bit?" Sam asked the blonde when she came by to pick up a rum and coke.

"I've been tryin', but she doesn't listen too well," Ginger sighed. "Anne Marie's great help, though!"

"Maybe Eric needs to know," Sam suggested.

"I really hate to get anyone in trouble with Eric," Ginger said, "Maybe she's just nervous."

Somehow, Sam doubted that.

After one of Elise's trips to the employee hallway, she actually came to the bar and picked up an order for a small table she had passed on her way back. The smell of her that Sam had noticed on Eric was even stronger now. She reached for the drink Sam had made for her table and Sam grabbed her wrist.

"What are you?" he demanded in a low voice.

Elise's wide brown eyes opened even wider and Sam knew he had given himself away. She knew now that he was something more than human himself, even if she couldn't tell what. Silently he cursed himself, but he continued to glare at her.

"I'm just human, Sam," she said, smiling wickedly.

"I kinda doubt that," he said frankly. She looked down at his hand on her wrist and he let go, hoping he hadn't bruised her pale flesh.

"What are you?" Elise replied playfully.

"A friend of Eric's, who doesn't want to see him waste money on barmaids who don't do their share," Sam said pointedly.

Elise laughed. "Eric doesn't have friends," she said confidently. The statement threw Sam for a loop.

"Oh, yeah?" he said, though it wasn't exactly what he meant to say.

"Are you going to tell on me, Sam?" Elise fluttered her eyelashes at him. Now Sam felt even more frustrated and annoyed.

"Just go take this martini to your table," he snapped. Elise laughed as she took the order and flounced away.

"I am going to kill that little bitch," said Pam, appearing at the bar a moment later. "Eric really doesn't like wasting his money."

Sam wasn't sure if she meant literally or not, so he didn't respond directly. "Have you noticed anything strange about her?"

"Besides Eric's interest in her?"

"Yes. I mean, what could possibly draw him to such an immature young woman when he's got a girl like Peggy?"

"Blood," said Pam. "She does have a particularly appetizing aroma."

"Appetizing? Not, say, rotted?"

"No," said Pam, "There is a hint of something delicious and enticing about her, but every time I get close enough to investigate, she runs away from me. I just get a hint of that mouthwatering smell."

"Mouthwatering?" Clearly his shifter nose and her vampire one were gathering different impressions of Elise.

"She must taste better than she looks…and better than she acts," Pam drawled. "I just hope Eric tires of her quickly, before she causes any real trouble."

"Where is Eric, by the way?" Sam asked.

"He should be here any minute," Pam drawled. With that, she drifted away from the bar.

"I wish Sookie was here," Anne Marie groused. "Get me two gin an' tonic, cher?"

"You got it."

"Sookie could listen in on dat girl and fine out what de hell she up to," said Anne Marie, staring off at Elise, who was cleaning up a table. "Clearly she ain't here to start on a career as a barmaid, her."

"I have to admit, I want to know what she is," Sam told his wife in a low voice. "She smells terrible to us, but 'mouthwatering' to vampires. And damn it – she's going out back again!"

"M'gone hit her wid my tray," Anne Marie growled, and this time she stalked off after the girl.

Sam had no time to consider this because a trio of drunken businessmen came to the bar just then for a round of tequila shots. Sam smiled to himself and thought of Lafayette as he reached for the bottle of Patron.

He wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed when Anne Marie returned to the bar, but she looked worried when she did. He nodded at her to let her know he'd be right there. He was still pouring shots. He was amazed these guys could still stand up. Anne Marie took her gin and tonics away, and by the time she returned, Sam was free.

"Elise on drugs," she confided.

"What kind of drugs?"

"I think V, maybe. I seen her sip sometin' out a small vial. Didn't wanta confront her – dem V addicts can be ver' dangerous."

"If she's on V, Eric will really want to kill her," said Sam, sighing. "I don't like her one bit, but I don't want to see her get killed, either."

Anne Marie leaned across the bar and kissed Sam gently on the mouth. "You a good man, Sam Merlotte. Me, I won't cry if I see her on de news tomorrow."

Sam smiled at her faintly. Something caught his eye and he turned and looked towards the back of the bar. Peggy and Bill had arrived. Eric didn't appear to be with them, and Sam and Anne Marie exchanged a glance. Peggy's white face was blank, but her blue eyes glittered with rage. Bill looked slightly pained, which was normal for him. He had his hand on Peggy's shoulder.

Their arrival caused a stir in the club, Sam noticed. Though the two of them were silent and slipped into a large booth at the edge of the wall, every head in the room, vampire, human, or otherwise turned to look at them. Bill was wearing a dark gray suit with a white shirt, open at the collar, and Peggy had on a plain black dress, nothing as fancy as what the waitresses wore or Pam's leather ensemble.

"Don't they make a nice couple?" said Anne Marie, her voice dripping with acid. "Dis all Eric's fault."

"They aren't doing anything but sitting together," Sam pointed out. He quickly pulled out two bottles of O Negative and set them on Anne Marie's tray. "Here, go find out what's up."

Silently Anne Marie took the drinks and sashayed over to the new arrivals. Sam enjoyed watching her sashay. In fact, he had never met a woman with a finer backside for sashaying than Anne Marie. He wished suddenly that they had just used this week to maybe take a vacation. They could have taken Belle to Disney World, he thought ruefully. Instead they were caught up in this mess of Eric's.

He looked around the room, wondering if anyone there could be responsible for the bomb two nights earlier. Ginger? Elise? The vampires from New Orleans? Maybe someone from the antique shop had done it, just to get Eric to drop a boatload of money on a new chair, Sam thought giddily.

He realized that he hadn't spent much time trying to figure out who had put the jar of roaches in the cupboard at Merlotte's, for that matter. He had suspected one of the bus boys for a few minutes, but Sookie had cleared everyone who had been at their meeting. No one there had done it, she had insisted, and of course Sam believed her.

He wished he could hear what Anne Marie was saying to Peggy and Bill. He could see only his wife's back and see the two vampires' expressions. Bill was carefully keeping his face blank, despite the woeful look in his eyes. Peggy went from furious, to triumphant, to worried. She stood up once, but Bill put his hand over hers and she sat back down. Anne Marie said something else and Bill guiltily removed his hand from on top of Peggy's. He nodded, shook his head.

After a few minutes, Anne Marie returned to the bar. She sighed heavily. "Eric in back wid Elise," said Anne Marie. "Drinkin' her nasty blood. Phew, that girl smell worse than de swamp durin' alligator matin' season."

"Did you tell them about the V?"

Anne Marie nodded. "Thought Peggy was going to go kill her right now. But Eric got to stop this on his own."

"Stop what on my own?"

Eric Northman silently appeared at the bar next to Anne Marie.