Chapter 9

When I woke up, I was laying down in a booth, half of me dangling off the edge about to fall under the table. I sat up quietly and took in my surroundings. I was still in the vampire bar, and Sookie was lying on the table where I'd last seen her. Everything that had happened last night slowly came back to me, and I jumped out of the booth to make sure my friend was okay.

Her still body frightened me, but when I got closer, I could see her shallow breathing. She was alive, just resting. I was taken aback when I realized her black eye was gone, just like that. Someone had changed her into a bright red Fangtasia shirt, and my curiosity got the best of me as I pulled it up to check on her scratches. I felt super awkward, but I had to see for myself what they looked like. Sure enough, just as with her eye, her scratches had completely healed. I was completely stunned by this, how did the doctor manage to heal her so quickly?

"Impossible," I whispered under my breath. I took Sookie's hand in mine and focused. I wanted to see if a vision had any answers for the imposing questions on my mind. While I always had effortless (and a lot of times unwelcome) visions when I first touched someone, having visions of them after that initial contact usually was a lot harder and required actual effort from me. I squeezed my eyes shut in concentration.

Sookie awoke from her sleep and found herself lying down on a table in Fangtasia. She sat up and noticed that someone had changed her into a red Fangtasia shirt. She walked over to a small mirror and lifted up the back of her shirt, revealing her back, which was completely healed, void of any sign of the night's events.

"You're awake," a mousey voice said, and Sookie spun around to see who it was. A skinny woman with short blonde hair held a plate with a sandwich on it. She was dressed way too young, and definitely too provocatively, for her age. She held out the plate and said, "I made you a two-top sandwich. Peanut butter and chocolate syrup."

"That's very… thoughtful, Ginger," Sookie said as she accepted the plate out of politeness. It was clear she wasn't going to actually eat the sad, soggy sandwich.

"Oh, that's the thing about being with vamps, ain't it?" Ginger smiled. "You always forget to eat. I've lost 37 pounds since I got this job. Way better than a fat farm."

"Did Bill leave?" asked Sookie.

"Oh, he's resting in back, I think."

"Do they make you stay here every day?"

"Well, sometimes I just come in for deliveries, but these days I've been coming in for-" Ginger shut her mouth quickly, as if she'd said too much and was giving something away. She tried to brush it off. "Heh. Ha-ha. Never mind all that. You just finish up your sandwich and go back to sleep."

Sookie wasn't buying it and concentrated on Ginger, probably reading her mind. Her eyes widened from something she must have heard Ginger think.

"Lafayette?" Sookie started. "Why would Eric have Lafayette in the basement?"

"I just work here," Ginger told her nervously.

Sookie seemed to read something else in Ginger's mind and suddenly bolted behind the counter. She reached under the cash register and pulled out a gun.

"Take me to him!" she ordered as she pointed the gun at Ginger. Ginger screamed bloody murder. "Now!"

I dropped Sookie's hand and blinked my way back into the present. Lafayette… he was the missing cook at Merlotte's. And he was being held in the basement.

I didn't know what I was doing before I did it, but suddenly I was at the basement door yanking at it to get in. What was I doing? I didn't even know Lafayette, and I was sure if I was caught I'd be in huge trouble. I was risking my life for someone I didn't even know. But I felt compelled to save the man, no one deserved to be held in a basement like that.

The door was locked, and I scrambled around the bar looking for a key. When I couldn't find one, I pulled a bobby pin from my hair. Before my dad went downhill, he was a locksmith, so naturally I knew a thing or two about locks. I picked the lock and pried open the door.

The basement was dark and damp. I shut the door behind me and tiptoed my way down the stairs. It smelled like stale urine and dying animals. I gasped in horror when I noticed the blood stains on the floor. And then I saw him.

Lafayette leaned against a pillar, a collar chained around his neck. His dark skin was covered in dirt and sweat, and even some dried blood. His facial hair hadn't been shaved in weeks. As I inched closer, I saw a gaping hole in his leg, like he had been shot.

"Lafayette?" I whispered. He was unconscious, and he looked like he was on death's door. "Lafayette?"

He groaned in response, and I knelt down next to him. I grabbed his hand.

Lafayette was lying on a couch in room full of animal prints and eccentric patterns. He snuggled into his colorful afghan and whimpered in pain. Around him, pill bottles were spilled open and scattered. A bowl full of stale popcorn and bottles of alcohol sat in front of him.

There was a knock on the door, and outside a voice said, "I know you in there, even if you won't pick up the phone." It was Tara.

"Damn, hooker. Shit." Lafayette mumbled. The knocking turned into banging, and he reluctantly got up and limped over to the door to let Tara in.

I let go of him. That was all I needed to see, that he was going to be set free and returned home.

"Lafayette," I told his sleeping form. "Don't worry, you're getting out of here."

Upstairs, I heard the shrill screaming of Ginger's.

"Take me to him!" I heard Sookie's yell. "Now!" A moment later, she came running down the stairs, gun in hand. Ginger followed behind her.

"Oh my god," Sookie gasped. She paused on the staircase at the sight of me crouching over an unconscious Lafayette. She ran over to us and I stood up out of the way to let her be with her friend.

"Lafayette," she said to wake him up. "Lafayette." At the sound of his friend's familiar voice, the imprisoned man stirred.

"Sookie. Is that really you?" he asked.

"What have they done to you?"

"Do I look like a vampire?"

"You look awful."

"I feel fucking worse. I guess that means I ain't a vampire then, which is good."

"Uncuff him," Sookie ordered, turning to Ginger.

"I don't have that key!" Ginger pleaded desperately. "I swear."

Sookie looked back to her chained friend. "I'm gonna get you out of here," she told him. "I promise."

"Where are Bill and Eric?" I asked of Ginger.

"They're resting, there's still on hour till sundown," she squealed.

"We'll wait," stated Sookie. She cradled Lafayette's cheek I her hand. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon. I'm getting you out… tonight."

We made our way back upstairs, and once we reached the top, Sookie pointed the gun back at Ginger, evicting another earsplitting screech.

"Go home," Sookie told her. "Get out of here."

"But," she protested, "but Eric will-"

"Leave!" Sookie shouted, waving the gun around to emphasize that she was in control. Without another word, Ginger frantically grabbed her purse and scurried out the door. Sookie set the gun down and rubbed her temples, stressed.

"Sookie," I put my hand on her shoulder to console her. "I had a vision. Everything's gonna be okay, I saw Lafayette home with Tara."

"Thank god," she sighed. "But at what cost?"