She thought she was going to get out of it easy. None of the FotS people were antagonizing her, and the minute one would start she would immediately look their way and give them the look. It was not until Arlene came around the bar and grabbed her flower. She picked up the flower and waved it in front of her face.
"Oh my...Sookie. Where ever did you find such a pretty flower. It is yours, right honey?" She smiled at her, waiting for her to reply.
"Yes Arlene, it was a gift, and I would kindly appreciate it if you would put it back were you found it. Thank you so very much." She was clenching her teeth to the point of pain and the smile on her face would scare a circus clown.
"Oh...a gift...from who?" She antagonized her more.
"It was a gift from Eric, you remember Eric. Very tall, very big, very strong." She wants to play this game, lets play.
"Do you mean the...vampire" She said vampire like it was burning her tongue. She instantly dropped the flower from her fingers acting as though the fact that it was bought by him would cause her to suddenly have a deep need to bite a human and suck them dry. Like it was a communicable disease suddenly carried by flowers.
"Yup, that would be the one, what a good memory you have. I'd have thought all that hair dye would have sure gone to your brain by now. Boy, was I wrong. I'm sure sorry 'bout that." Again, seriously scary smile, circus clowns running for the hills.
"Oh Sookie...that's not nice. See what happens when you fill your life with those demon's, you act like one yourself. I knew it was just a matter of time before you'd started acting like one of those unholy devil's." She stepped on the blossom and crushed it under her shoe.
"Hey Arlene, visit Rene in prison lately. I hear they're real good on letting ex-wives of serial killers have conjugal visits. Who knows, maybe the one that ran off with all your silverware is there too..cell mates maybe" It was a low blow but, who the hell cares. Her smile was no longer pasted on her face. That disappeared once she heard the delicate blossom disintegrate under her Nike's. Now there was just pure hatred.
The FotS members were standing up ready to jump if there were any sudden movements on her part. She could see that one of them had his fist clenched ready to swing. One of the other waitresses was smart enough to knock on Sam's office door to let him know what was brewing on the other side. He immediately jumped in between and started shouting for the two of them to back down. He could see that neither of them was willing to walk away so he did what was best, pulled her into his office so she could cool down.
"What the hell is going on? Everything seemed fine when I came in here to catch up on paper work. How did everything go from quite and fine to chaos in 2 minutes?" He was angry.
"Sam, this was not my fault. She purposely waved that flower that I brought here in front of everyone so I would have to broadcast my personal business. Then she threw it on the floor and crushed it like she was just the snottiest bitch to ever live." She pleaded her case that this was not her doing. "She started this whole thing. I was fine, I didn't even look at those Fellowship losers, honest."
She was so angry that she was shaking, how dare that bitch do this to her. What nerve, bitch.
Eric was getting the bar ready for the night ahead. He was positively cheery, compared to his recent instability. Pam noticed it the minute she entered the bar. "Master, I see that your night off went well. I saw to it that your message was delivered to the appropriate person. All went well. Will you be here all evening, or are you planning on leaving early?" Pam knew that he could do anything he pleased and certainly did not need to run anything by her.
"I plan on being her for a while. I will let you know before I leave." He looked at her and he actually winked. She dipped her head slowly and carried herself away to do the rest of the nights preparations. Just as the words left his mouth he got a wave of fear. Not his own, it was hers. He could feel that she was upset, angry. She was not crying because she was in pain. She was furious and she was very, very upset. Something was happening, what was it? He closed his eyes and tried to feel more of what was washing over him. Someone was upsetting her, he could almost feel her shaking from the anger. He decided his plans were changing for the night.
"Pam...Pam" He yelled to the other side of the empty building. She instantly appeared, making no sound as she did so.
"Yes, do you need something" she asked in her flat Pam voice.
"My plans are changing, I will be leaving immediately." And with that he was out the door and driving down the road to his bonded. He was going to find out what had happened.
She emerged from Sam's office, eyes red with anger and her fists clenched. She shoved them into her apron so no one could see that she was so tense. Arlene just watched her as she crossed the room. Most of the people that were there from the FotS had left. The guy Arlene was dating stayed behind, along with his best friend. She could feel the hum in her head and it was closer than it was earlier. It was too early for him to be coming for her so soon? Her shift did not end for another hour, what was he doing? Despite her questions, she was relaxing into the feeling.
The next customer through the door was Amelia, she was alone, surprisingly. She grabbed a stool at the bar and ordered a rum and coke. She made small talk with the other waitress and finally noticed the tension as she walked over to hug her hello.
"So, what's going on here tonight? You look like you could just about kill someone. What happened?" She looked at her with great concern.
"Nothing really, Arlene just was being Arlene. She just really pissed me off. She had the nerve to start asking me personal questions about where the lily came from in front of all of those Fellowship guys." She tilted her head in the direction of the table where they all had been seated. "Dumb and Dumber are the only one's left. There were like six others here about twenty minutes ago. She actually crushed my flower, stomped on it because it was from Eric. What kind of person does that?" She was more hurt than angry. Arlene had at one time been one of her best friends, it felt like so long ago.
"Honey, don't let her get to you. You know she was only doing it to make you upset, which she obviously did. Remember, people are going to be mean and they're gonna say some pretty shitty stuff if you are in a relationship with The Vampire himself. I'm not just talking about people, other's too." And by other's she meant Supes.
"I know, you're right, it just hurt, that's all. Did you ever think of what he could have taken from the house? Anything, anything at all. Nothing looks like its missing" She probed her friend with a smile and a wink.
"Oh my goodness, not only are you sharing a bed with that devil, but he's a thief to boot. Honey, you hear that? Sookie's new boyfriend has sticky fingers!" Arlene had been eavesdropping and yelled to her date.
And that was the last straw. She leaped from where she was standing and grabbed Arlene by the bright red, dyed, brittle hair. She slammed her into the bar wall and grabbed her neck with so much force she even shocked herself.
"Now you listen to me Arlene. What I do in my personal life is none of your damn business. I swear to God if I hear you say or speak another word about me or Eric I'll rip every last strand of this hideous hair right out of your skull. You got me, not a word, not even a thought. You are a miserable bitch and you are bent to make everyone else around just as miserable." She screamed in her face.
She felt a hand grab her by the back of the head, it was Arlene's boyfriend. He pulled her head backward and threw her on the ground. His best friend made sure she stayed down by pressing his knee into her back. The crowd in the bar had cleared out of fear. Amelia went to help Sookie, only to be shoved out of the way by dumber, as Sookie had referred to him earlier. Sam came running again, only this time he saw Arlene holding her neck where Sookie had grabbed her, and Arlene's boyfriend standing over Sookie as she stared at him from the bar floor. He raised his hand above his head in a motion that was made to look like he was going to slap her. Sam ran at them not knowing whether to tackle the boyfriend, or the friend that held her in place. It didn't matter, in the blink of an eye Eric had run into the bar and knocked them both out cold.
He scanned the bar for anyone else that appeared to be a threat and his eyes fell upon Arlene. As soon as he looked at her she began crying, backing away from him as quickly as she could. Eric was hell bent on making her equally responsible for what was going on.
"Eric...no...she's not worth it" She begged him and pulled his arm. "She's not worth our energy. Please, look at me. Eric, snap out of it" She shook his arm so he had to look at her. His face softened and he bent down to kiss her. The sneer that was on his face was gone, his fangs had recoiled, he allowed himself to inhale her scent. She tucked her head into his chest and breathed out a sigh of relief when she knew the danger had past. She sank into their bond and let the wave of trust and relaxation sweep over them both. She looked up into his eyes.
"Come on, let's get out of here." she gave his arm a tug. "Hey Arlene, you're gonna need some ice for those guys. Take my advise, best have lots of ice on hand if this is the type of shit you plan on pulling each time we work together." She played it cool, but she was secretly pissed that Eric had swooped in to save the day. She was thinking that she could have gotten a few good licks in on those assholes herself.