Disclaimer: I do not own True Blood or its characters/plot. I pull ideas from the show and inspiration from other fanfics, but this is my own original fanfic. This is my first fanfic that I am writing for no other reason than for some fun.

Chapter 2

"Good morning, Miss Eldoris, this is your wakeup call!" a voice much too cheery said over the motel phone.

"Thanks," I murmured groggily before hanging up the phone.

After washing up and getting ready for the day, I pulled my long brown hair into a ponytail, put on my sneakers, and headed out. My agenda for today was getting a job. Who knew how much time I would be here and I needed the money. Plus, I was not about to be spending all my time watching my messed up father deteriorate. I was taking pity on him for being sick, but that didn't mean that I liked the man and wanted to spend "cherished, long-lost time" with him. I needed something to keep me busy.

I stopped by the front desk and asked the lady if she knew of any job openings.

"Well Bon Temps ain't that big of a place," she laughed. "Don't got too many options… Oh but Merlotte's is surely hiring, god knows they're short on waitresses. With one dropping right after the other…" She trailed off as she realized what she was saying. She sent me a panicked smile to try to cover up. "Dropping out of town, I mean. Not that this is a bad town, uhm…"

Like I didn't know about the murders. Of course when I had looked for a place to stay I had seen the reports of murder in Bon Temps. It didn't faze me much, of course it wasn't ideal, but it's not like Alaska was the safest place either and I needed a place to stay. This motel in Bon Temps was all I could afford. I decided to humor the lady and pretend like I hadn't picked up on her reference.

"Merlotte's sounds nice, thanks," I assured her as I went outside to my rental car.

Merlotte's wasn't hard to find, this town was so small. It was a nice looking bar, nestled in the woods how it was. I parked and headed in.

It wasn't crowded quite yet, but there was a good amount of people sitting enjoying their meals.

I looked around for someone who worked here, and surprising found that difficult. Where is everybody?

I finally spotted a woman with red hair wearing a uniform and went towards the bar where she stood. There was another girl with her, talking excitedly. I waited for a break in their conversation before jumping in.

"Excuse me," I said as they both turned to look at me. "I'm sorry I don't mean to interrupt, but could I have an application real quick and I'll be right out of your way…"

"Well I'll be, perfect timing!" the redhead exclaimed. "We are in such desperate need of waitresses here, thank god you two showed up! I'm Arlene, and this here's Daphne, she's looking for work too."

"Hi," I smiled at Daphne.

"Nice to meet you," she said as she held out her hand.

Merlotte's was full of people, loud and busy. People crowded the bar and filled the tables. From the kitchen, someone yelled, "Daphne! Order up!"

Daphne, dressed in a waitress uniform, scurried frantically towards the kitchen window to pick up her meals.

"Be a doll, take that out to table four for me," Arlene told her, preoccupied with helping the cook, who appeared overly stressed.

"Okay," Daphne said unsurely, gathering up and trying to balance the food platters in her hands. "Which one's table four again?"

Arlene dropped her tongs and scowled at the frazzled new waitress, clearly annoyed.

"Well, I- I'll find it," Daphne said, not so assuringly. "I'll find it," she mumbled to herself.

She carried the trays out to the center of the room and became instantly overwhelmed. It was obvious she had no idea where she was going as she spun in circles, looking for the right table.

"Miss! Miss?" a voice called from across the room. Daphne followed the sound of her voice and turned to look at a woman alone at a booth, surrounded by empty plates. The woman held up her hand and waved it around to get the waitress's attention, "I think you're looking for me."

Daphne gave a sigh of relief. "I'd have stood there all night if you hadn't noticed me. So, thanks." She set the food down as the dark-haired lady smiled at her.

"Are you new here?" she asked.

"How could you tell?" Daphne joked.

"Because you care about doing a good job," the customer told her. "Now you just keep on caring and one day you'll be the best at what you do. That's my advice."

Daphne looked at her with a look of appreciation before walking off; the strange lady chowed down on her onion rings.

"I'm Lissa," I said as I released her hand from mine, processing my latest vision. So Daphne was to be hired. And she wasn't going to be the best of help around here. I felt pity for how this was going to work out for her, but hid it neatly, as not to give anything away. But who was that lady eating all the food? She had struck me as odd. I didn't dwell on it though, since people would come and go in my visions all the time.

"Alrighty," Arlene said. "Daphne, Lissa, I'm gonna go get Sam so he can meet y'all. Now, I don't mean to push the envelope, but I think we can get y'all some work here. Dammit, if Sam doesn't give y'all a shot I'm going to kill him! I'm the only waitress around here right now, and if he thinks it's gonna continue that way, he's got another thing coming."

We followed Arlene down the hall to what must be this "Sam's" office, and with a quick knock, the redhead wasted no time in barging in the door.

"Hey, Sam, I don't know when you're planning on hiring another waitress, but me and Sookie are fixing to drop dead from exhaustion," Arlene rambled on to her boss. Sam had turned in his chair looking at the three of us. He was a pretty handsome looking guy, but it was obvious he was stressed out about something. The lack of waitresses, maybe?

"I mean, look here," Arlene held out her hands, displaying her ruined nails. "Nine out of ten broken."

"Yeah," Sam said apologetically. "Uhh, I- I'm sorry. I've been meaning to- to put an ad out."

"Well, that's why these girls are here," she gestured towards us. "They came in looking for work. I think you owe it to yourself to at least give 'em each an interview.

Daphne shrugged, "I used to work at the Cracker Barrel in Alexandria."

"And I worked as a barista in a little café in Alaska," I chimed in.

"Oh, yeah," Sam nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, sure. Come on in."

"Thank you," Arlene said relieved as she walked out the door. She paused at the doorway to and suddenly took on a serious tone as she asked, "Oh, Sam. Can I start parking over near your trailer? Instead of, you know, where the-"

"Yeah," Sam told her with stress in his voice. "Yeah, you go ahead."

Arlene smiled real big, "I love you." She inhaled sharply before gesturing with her hands "Nine out of ten." When she shut the door behind her, Sam got out of his chair and came towards us.

"Hey, I'm Sam Merlotte."

"Hey, I'm Daphne."

"Lissa," I said as I watched Sam shake Daphne's hand before reaching for mine.

Crickets were chirping, the sky was dark. Sam was shoving a bag into the trunk of his car. The trunk actually was filled with a ton of bags, almost like he was packing. It seemed that he was planning on leaving, and something about the situation said no one knew where he was headed, including him.

As he went to shut the trunk, he turned at the sound of panting. A brown and white dog was standing behind him, wagging his tail and barking playfully. Was this Sam's dog?

Sam chuckled, "Aw, hell. I wasn't gonna run off without saying goodbye to you." He walked over to where the dog stood and crouched down to pet him. "I'm sure gonna miss you, buddy."

The dog looked at Sam expectantly, and Sam looked back.

"Huh? All right. One last time," he said as he tugged off his shirt. "Let's go. Come on." He started running and the dog chased after him. "See, you can't keep up with me!"

Then something strange happened: As Sam ran, he started to unbuckle his belt. Next thing you knew, his pants were on the ground and Sam was… a dog?

I let go of Sam's hand suddenly, and I stumbled backwards a few steps. I held my hand up to my head to try to steady myself. What did I just see?

Sam and Daphne both looked at me with worried expressions.

"You alright?" Sam asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine," I said, trying to brush my vision off and look at Sam without screaming. "I still haven't gotten quite used to this Louisiana heat. I just need to remind myself to drink more so I don't pass out."

"Oh, okay," Sam said. "Whew, you got me worried there for a second." We all laughed somewhat awkwardly before there was silence.

Sam finally broke the silence by saying, "So, a barista, huh?"