I didn't expect to be posting an update so soon, but there you go! The suspense was killing me haha. I know it's a little shorter, but I just needed to resolve it. The next one should be longer :)

Friday night

The doors to Merlotte's swung open, revealing a tall, blonde vampire. Eric did like to make an entrance, Jessica thought to herself. She smiled inwardly. The few people in the bar looked nervous, and she saw Andy Bellefleur reach subconsciously for his gun in the corner of her eye. Dumbass. He walked towards her.

"Where is Sam?" he demanded. She looked affronted.

"Gee, hey Eric. How you doin'? I'm just great." she said. Eric quickly zoomed over to the baby vamp, eliciting a gasp from the customers.

"I have no time for this. Where is he?"

"He's in his office, Lafayette–" But he had already gone. A woman in a nearby table raised her hand tentatively. "What do you want?" she snapped. The woman returned to her meal.

When Eric reached the office he found it empty. Eric was getting annoyed. He wanted to ask Sam if he knew anything about Sookie's disappearance, and the shifter wasn't even at his own bar. He could smell him though, so he'd been here recently. He looked down the corridor and saw that the outside door had been left open. He walked out into the parking lot. The scent of shifter was stronger here, and it got stronger towards the woods that surrounded Merlotte's.

He had no idea where Sam was, and at this moment he didn't much care. He had his own bar to run – he couldn't keep leaving Pam in charge, she was starting to think she was part-owner. He turned to leave.

Then he heard it. It was unmistakeably the sound of a gun being fired, and it came from the direction of the woods. He had heard recently that Sam had gone a little mental the week before, and, more importantly, he might have some useful information on Sookie. He zoomed off into the woods.

He didn't expect to see this.

Sam was crouching over a figure, the gun in his hand. He recognised Lafayette instantly.

"Merlotte!" he roared. Sam spun around but Eric was too quick for him. Faster than either Sam or Lafayette could see, Sam was suddenly flung against a nearby tree. He lay there unconscious. He crouched beside Lafayette. Blood was pouring freely from the wound in his chest, and he kept on shuddering and making incomprehensible gasping noises. "You're becoming a liability, Lafayette." Eric muttered.

"This… ain't your fault… for once," Lafayette said. "Are… you gonna help me… or not?"

Eric considered. If Lafayette was gone, that tied up a few loose ends nicely. But Eric had his orders, and Lafayette was one of the best V dealers in the state. He looked at Lafayette. "I guess I better…" He bared his fangs and bit into his arm. He let the blood drip into Lafayette's mouth. "Not too much," Eric said after a while. "Unless you want to get turned." Lafayette stopped. He wasn't bleeding anymore, but he wasn't completely healed either. He lifted himself up and propped himself against a tree.

There was the small problem of Sam.

"What do you want me to do?" Eric asked. What could Lafayette do? The most sensible option would be to give him to the cops, but Lafayette didn't like the idea. "I could kill him." Eric said as though reading his mind.

"No."

"Hand him in to the police?"

"No. I mean, Sam is like the centre of this town, y'know? I…"

"I could glamour him." Eric looked at him when he didn't reply. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

Lafayette didn't speak for a while. Eventually, he spoke. "It would be better." Eric sighed.

"You know I came here to question him about Sookie, if I glamour him, he won't have any useful information…"

"He ain't gonna tell you nothin', not now. And 'sides, he doesn't know anythin' anyway." Eric's eyes bored into him. "And Sookie's alive, 'least as far as I know."

"Well, this hasn't been an entirely wasted trip then." Damn, Eric could be cold. They sat in silence. A few minutes later, Sam opened his eyes groggily. Before he was even fully awake, Eric was crouching over him.

"Be quiet," he advised Lafayette. "I need to concentrate." He began. Lafayette couldn't hear what he was saying; all he could see was the Eric's back. But then when Eric moved away, he saw Sam's face. It looked totally blank. He felt a little wrench of guilt in his stomach. Sam promptly got up and walked away. Lafayette didn't think he'd even seen them.

Eric turned to face him. He looked less gloomy than before, probably because he knew Sookie was still alive now. That girl was a magnet for trouble. "Next time, don't go after someone who you think is a killer, Lafayette. I'm too busy to keep on coming to your rescue." This, coming from the vampire who had had him locked in a goddamn dungeon for weeks? He tried to feel angry, but he couldn't, not with Eric's blood inside him and the real thing standing so close. This must be an effect of the blood bond Sookie had told him about.

"Ain't you gonna take the body?" Lafayette asked. Eric glanced at it with a look of disgust on his face.

"Leave it here; nobody will find it." He said, and left, vampire style.

What a fucked up night. Lafayette looked around and shook his head. He got to his feet and hobbled back to his car.