Chapter 8

2004

SPOV

I'd been waiting for the vampire for hours when he finally walked into the bar.

Blonde hair a shade darker than mine, blue eyes that were twinkling in mischief, a handsome face that would look thirty years old forever. I wondered what kind of trouble my daddy got into this time.

He sauntered over to my section and kissed the top of my head before announcing, "O positive tonight."

"O positive? I thought those tasted like shit." I said, balancing a tray full of beer.

"Usually do. Tonight, no. Been feeding on nothing but AB neg donors at Fangtasia all week." Daddy grabbed the tray from me before I could protest, and shouted, "Who ordered the Bud?"

"Right here, Mr. S!" Hoyt Fortenberry hollered back.

Hoyt was standing next to some other guys from the road crew, and they were all gathered around a pool table. My daddy delivered their beer and gave Hoyt and Catfish Hennessy one of those man hugs that started as a handshake and ended in a slap on the back.

"Don't go huggin' every vampire you see, I'll get jealous." Daddy quipped, but there was an undeniable edge of caution in his voice.

He was warning them. Vampires hated unnecessary physical contact. It had something to do with their freakishly strong olfactory senses and their general disdain for humans. Thankfully, my dad was still too young to have lost his human mannerisms. I hoped I'd never have to see him all cold and emotionless like Pam was two years ago. She was still aloof most of the time, but at least she wasn't at the frigid ice queen level anymore. It was impossible to stay detached around Gran. That woman could thaw an iceberg with her hugs and kindness.

I left them to their guy bonding and checked on the other tables. As I was heating up the Tru Blood, something I heard niggled at the back of my mind. I never had my shields completely up unless I was with Gran, but that didn't mean I understood everything I picked up though. I heard thoughts as background noise, and once in a while a word would jump out at me. It was difficult placing that singular thought to a person because of how faint the voice I heard was. So I dropped my shields, the fortress around my mind that I'd built to keep me sane, and drifted through thought after boring thought.

...fries are so good, I should've ordered a large.

Five bucks ought to be enough to cover...

...shoot blanks now that he's a vampire?

Eww! I did not need to hear that!

...date with Arlene tomorrow night.

...wrong to ask Sookie out. Jason would've killed me for even considering it.

A sharp pang shot through my heart. Not a week went by where I didn't think about him. None of the private investigators that Daddy hired over the two years that he'd been back had found him. A part of me kept saying he must be dead since he hadn't contacted us in almost ten years. And every time she opened her dumb mouth, I'd stuff an imaginary sock in it and duct tape it shut. My brother was alive somewhere. I knew it.

The PIs found Hadley though. Last I heard, she was living in Red Ditch with a husband and a kid. She never bothered to visit even though we were only about an hour and a half away. Hell, she didn't even bother inviting any of us to her wedding or baby shower. But that's typical Hadley. She only came calling when she was in trouble and needed money. The second it was all blue skies and sunny days, she forgot we even existed. I never cared for her selfish ass and never let her bother me. But Gran wasn't like me and she was heartbroken when Hadley started screening her calls. I could've killed Hadley for that. Pam actually offered after she saw how upset Gran was, but Daddy put a stop to that real quick. He said she "might be a bitch, but she's still a part of my baby sister" and to leave her be.

They also found Michelle. To the surprise of no one, she was in the only women's prison in Louisiana. I knew Daddy and Pam called in some favors and visited her one night a little over a year ago, but that was all either of them would tell me. My dad was a good man through and through. He might've been a vampire now but, at his core, he was still Corbett Stackhouse. And Corbett Stackhouse would never raise a hand to the mother of his children, no matter how much she had it coming. Pam and I weren't, and would never be, the best of friends, but we had something huge in common. We both loved Daddy something fierce. She would never admit it, and probably didn't even realize she was capable of it, but it was obvious to anyone who spent any amount of time with the two of them. And that was good enough for me.

To be fair though, I had to admit I was reticent about accepting her into our lives until Daddy had the "never bleed around a vampire" talk with me. Apparently, fairy blood to vampires was like water to a man stranded on a desert for days under the beating sun with no water or shelter for relief. It really put things into perspective and gave me a better understanding of that night. I was still miffed at being sacrificed to the river gods but that was explained as well. Daddy compared it to a junky being high as a kite being pulled over with a baggy full of coke. Their only options before the cop walked up to their window were to hide it, get rid of it, or swallow it. She couldn't very well hide an unglamourable seven year old with the corpse of her father, and she was in the mess she was already in because of the third option. That didn't go over very well with me but after a while, I stopped hating her. And she grew on me. Like a fungus. And Pam was, well, Pam. She was still as egotistical, self-centered, vain, and unfeeling as I remembered, but she was also a vampire. And what so many people often forget is that vampires are not human and, therefor, should never be held up to the same standards or expectations as one. Because otherwise, they'd be sorely disappointed.

The fairy blood talk with my dad also made me paranoid as fuck about being out at night while on my period. I also avoided Pam like the plague during that week because underneath all that pink and lavender, was still the scary bitch I met all those years ago. So it was a good thing Pam went with him to confront Michelle, and I told her so by tracking down a seller of vintage Louis Vuitton trunks. I didn't have the money to buy her anything from the collection other than a luggage tag, but she was more than happy with it and the collector's contact information.

Even though I'd yet to meet her maker again, I knew from her stories that He'd somehow end up footing the bill. I smiled at that thought as I brought a Tru Blood over to my dad. When I turned to grab a pitcher of beer for one of my tables, he draped an arm over my shoulders and whispered against the top of my head, "Fucking glad to be back. Love you, baby girl."

An enormous smile spread across my face as I turned to stare up at my dad. "I know, and I love you too."

Then, with a kiss on his eternally stubby cheek, I skipped over to the bar where my boss, Sam Merlotte, was shooting disapproving looks at me. I was in too good a mood to let his sour disposition ruin my night, so I blew him a kiss and started humming Toxic, the new Britney song.

As the night progressed, I noticed the new guy on the road crew, Rene something or another, stealing glances at me as I flitted across the restaurant with everyone's orders. It didn't go unnoticed by Daddy who, from the corner of my eye, I saw step up to Rene.

Every. Fucking. Time.

I sucked on my teeth and dipped into Rene's head to watch the scene unfold. I knew better than to confront Daddy in the middle of a pissing match. Vampires were extremely territorial and over protective. To butt in right now would cause him to lose face, and that was a big no-no in their world.

"Ought to keep your eyes elsewhere, boy. Feel me?" Daddy growled.

Rene held both his hands out in supplication. "I don't mean to make me the misère. Ain't know she your girl, for true."

Daddy narrowed his eyes and studied him. He must've sensed sincerity, fear, or who knows what, but he nodded once and returned to his chat with Catfish. After a few minutes, I caught his eye and gestured for him to join me by the back.

"You can't keep coming into my workplace and threatening to kill every guy who looks at me!" I whisper yelled.

"And why the hell not?"

"Because," I whispered furiously, "I'll get fired!"

He shrugged. "Win-win to me. You serving these assholes? Hate it. Never lifted a goddamn finger to help you or Jase."

I wanted to bang my head against the wall. "That's because nobody knew about it! It wasn't any of their business!"

Daddy looked down and seemed to be studying his shoes. When he lifted his eyes again, they were rimmed in red. "Tryin'a look out for you now that I'm able. Can't know how sorry I am, not being there when y'all needed me."

And just like that, my anger deflated in a puff.

I wrapped my arms around my dad and breathed him in. Underneath the stale smell of vampire, I could still detect his woodsy scent. It brought me comfort when I was a terrified little girl hiding from the world, and it brought me comfort now.

"I get it, I really do. But if nothing else, you should at least trust that I'm more than capable of watching out for myself..." The guilt was killing me, but I stood my ground and continued, "Dad, I love you, but I don't think you should visit me at work if you won't be able to keep a lid on your temper."

And I meant it. Not only was his aggression scaring off Merlotte's customers and pissing off my boss, his behavior was off putting to some of the regulars and making people more prejudiced against vampires. I was also twenty-four years old and didn't need anyone defending my honor. Sweet as it was, it was also archaic and kind of insulting.

"Ain't gon' stop coming round here just 'cause you're working, but I'll stop coming purposely during your shifts."

That was all I was going to get, but it was fair, so I nodded against his shoulder and relaxed.

A stray thought drifted to my attention.

Zeerahb fanger bangin' bonne a rienne

The thought disappeared as quickly as it arrived and I couldn't follow its owner. Weird. I looked over Daddy's shoulder but didn't see anyone either.

A/N: so.. The muse is back! Hopefully she'll stay and I'll get to keep this 24hours an update thing going. I've already started chapter 9, so that should be up by tomorrow or the day after.

Majority of the reviews were against Bartlett's death, but VALady's words of wisdom, "Bartlett doesn't deserve the words on the page" really resonated with me. So, no torture scene! Sorry to the readers who actually wanted it.

Thank you for reading, reviewing, subscribing to, favoriting, this story.