A/N: So, long story short, my dad died. It's… complicated. I continue to be quite fucked up, but now in a slightly different way. Very sorry about the long wait.

Chapter 15

Sookie rinsed the ice cream down the sink and poured herself another glass of wine. She figured that she deserved it. The next morning, she would have to update her resume and start looking for a job. She really didn't have any time to waste, considering the state of her bank account. For a moment she wished like hell that she had left Merlotte's just a little bit earlier or just a little bit later on New Year's morning. If she'd missed him running down Hummingbird Road, she wouldn't be more than three hundred dollars poorer than she was right then. If she'd missed him, she wouldn't be heartbroken. If she'd missed him, she wouldn't be missing him so hard right then.

Of course she didn't mean it. He'd been hurt and terrified and just about anything could have happened to him if she hadn't stopped that night. And she was finding out that there was some truth to the old saying. It was better that she'd had the chance to love him, even for a little while. No matter how much losing him hurt.

She cast out her sixth sense, looking for the empty space of a vampire brain, but she came up empty. Good. She scooped herself two more scoops of rocky road, poured the last of the bottle of wine into her glass and took them and her book outside to the porch swing. Fuck him. She was going to enjoy the warm night, just like she'd planned.

…

Eric had made it most of the way back to Shreveport when he turned back towards Bon Temps. A few minutes later, he touched down in a parking lot that was more than half full. The sign still said Merlotte's, but he knew that the shifter had sold the bar to a former detective on the Bon Temps police force. As Sheriff and bar owner himself, he kept up to date on local law enforcement, drinking establishments, and Supes in his area.

The woman had worked there until a couple of nights before. Many of the people inside would likely know her quite well. He wanted to find out everything about her that he could.

When he walked through the door to the bar, the noise quickly died down to almost nothing and just about everyone inside turned to stare. He was striking, looking every bit the Viking warrior that he used to be, despite the black TrueBlood t-shirt and leather jacket and blue jeans. He was a little over six foot four and nearly filled the doorway. He chose a seat at an empty table and sat down.

Soon, the noise picked back up a little, although most of the voices were hushed. He listened closely as he waited for a server. Some were wondering who he was. Some recognized him as Vampire. Still others had seen him at Fangtasia.

There were two barmaids huddled together behind the bar. Sookie's former co-workers would know the most, he was sure, and he concentrated his focus in their direction. He heard the one with spiky black hair whispering to the redhead. He made a point to look away.

"That's the one from the poster. The one Sookie was asking about earlier."

"That's a vampire? He sure looks big. Do you think that he's the one who bit her?"

"I think he must be. God, I don't want to go over there. Why did he have to sit in my section?"

"Well, don't look at me. I sure don't want to talk to a vamp."

A moment later, the waitress arrived at his table. Her voice sounded a little shaky. "Hey. My name is Holly and I'll be your server tonight. What can I get for you?"

"TrueBlood. O positive." The woman's blood type, he was sure. Not that it would taste anything like hers.

"I'm sorry, but we don't keep any synthetic blood in stock. We don't get too many vampires around here. I think you're only our second and the last one was nearly a year ago."

He placed a fifty dollar bill on the table.

"What can you tell me about Sookie Stackhouse?"

Holly bit her lip and looked at the money. She could really use it. She didn't want to do anything to hurt Sookie, but she had to look out for herself and her little boy. And she was scared. Still, she hesitated.

He put another fifty on the table.

She took a shaky breath, her eyes not leaving the money. "What do you want to know?"

"Whatever you can tell me."

Holly dragged her eyes away from the bills and looked at the vampire.

"I have a break coming up. I need to check on a couple of tables and then I guess I'll meet you out back. But I'm going to tell my co-worker that I'm going, so no funny business."

"Of course."

He stood up and left the bar, leaving the hundred dollars behind. Holly stuffed the two fifties into her pocket and checked in with all of her tables. She told Arlene that she was going on break and went out the employee entrance. Eric was leaning against the building, waiting for her.

She tried to light a cigarette but her hand was shaking too badly to get it lit. She finally got it on her third try. She drew deeply and then blew out a lungful of smoke. She'd quit when she was pregnant with Cody, but had started back up again after her best friend Danielle had been murdered.

"What do you want to know about Sookie?"

"She worked here, yes?"

Holly shrugged. "Well, yeah. She quit the other night. Our new boss is a real jerk but he was being crazy mean to Sookie. She dumped a pitcher of beer on his junk and then slapped the shit out of him."

"What else can you tell me about her?"

She shrugged again. "I dunno. She's a good person? Some people think she's a little bit…"

Eric raised an eyebrow. She sighed.

"Weird? I mean, yeah, she's kind of odd, but she doesn't mean anything by it."

She took a last drag on her cigarette and threw the half-smoked butt on the ground.

"Look, I gotta go back in and check on my tables."

She had tried sounding nonchalant but didn't come close. She turned to go inside but his voice froze her in place.

"Why was she here today?"

Holly's shoulders slumped before she turned back around to look at him.

"She was just picking up her final cheque and her tips from the night before."

"And asking about me?"

Holly closed her eyes and tried to will the tears away. He'd obviously heard her conversation with Arlene. After losing Danielle and then being forced into working for Hallow and her brother, she was now having to deal with an angry vampire. She decided that, after this, she was completely done with Supes. Her coven was practically defunct after losing Danielle last year and the other three in the witch war just the other night anyway, so she didn't think it would be a problem.

In the meantime, she was just going to get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. He looked like he could inflict a lot of pain. She sighed.

"Yes. She asked me about the flyer that I hung on the bulletin board inside a couple of weeks back. I told her that it was a wanted poster with your picture on it. I saw the bites on her neck and she told me that your last name is Northman."

Eric didn't look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. She checked her watch and then lit another cigarette. She was going to be late regardless. Might as well enjoy it as much as she could.

He crossed his arms. "What else can you tell me?"

Holly shrugged. "As I said, people think she's weird. Crazy, even. Some think that she can read people's minds, but that seems pretty far-fetched. Then again, it's kind of uncanny sometimes how much she gets right…"

He didn't move a muscle and his eyes burned into her. She felt compelled to tell him everything that she knew, even though she hadn't been glamoured. But he was kind of terrifying, as hot as he was. And he'd been with Sookie Stackhouse? She found it so hard to believe.

"She's never had a boyfriend or anything like that. I'm almost positive that she's a virgin. I know that she was not that long ago, or at least that's what her brother was telling everyone in the bar a few weeks back."

Had he taken her virginity? Had he been her one and only lover? Eric's cock hardened at the thought, but he hated the fact that he couldn't remember a second of it.

"What can you tell me about her brother?"

"Jason? Well, he's kind of a dog. I think he's slept with just about every girl in town between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five or so. Hell, I'm one of them. He and Sookie don't get along at all. He slapped her at their grandmother's funeral last year. It was really awful, and so awkward, and people are still talking about it. Most of them take Jason's side, but I'm not really sure. I don't think anyone's heard hers. Neither one of them has anything to do with the other, even if they're the only family that each other has left, as far as I know. That's his truck over there."

She pointed at a black pick-up with garish pink and aqua swirls painted on the side.

"He was playing pool when I came out here. Look, I'm going to get in deep shit if I don't get back to work."

He took a step back and she threw her cigarette on the ground and hurried inside before he changed his mind.

He walked back into the bar, just for a moment. Now that he really looked at the man, he recognized him from some of the pictures in Sookie's living room. He could also see the resemblance between Jason and his sister. Eric stared at him for several seconds.

Eventually, Jason felt the vampire's gaze and looked up. Their eyes locked for just a moment. Eric could feel the hostility from across the room. The corner of Eric's lip curled up a little. He turned and left the bar and flew back to his home in Shreveport.