Hey guys, I want to thank you all so much for your support.

I hope you enjoy this one and that it isn't terrible. Thank you! :) As for Bill making an appearance at the end, don't worry, she won't be dating him or falling into his tricks, she's just kind of "using him" so he'll take her to fangtasia because she has a feeling that's where Eric is.

Chapter Thirteen

After Eric leaving, I don't feel like heading back inside and having to deal with Gran and her questions so I go sit down on the swing that's on the porch, staring out at the moon and the stars. The moon is full tonight and, now that Eric has gone, everything is so quiet and dead outside.

I hate that he had to go, and I can't imagine what I am going to do without him. I have gotten used to having Eric around me most of the time come night, so it'll be strange to be alone without his company. Having a dawning suspicion he would leave one of these days still doesn't make it any easier to deal with. It couldn't have been over five minutes since he left and, already, my heart feels so heavy with missing him.

I am thinking about getting an early night so I don't have to explain why I feel close to tears when a pop comes from near the porch steps. Sure enough, it's Grandpa Niall. He has finally shown up from wherever it was he had disappeared off to this morning when I was in need of him.

"He's gone, Grandpa," I tell him quietly. He sits beside me on the porch swing, using his feet so we rock back and forth, and it's comforting to me for some reason. "He's gone, and, already, I miss him to death. It feels like someone important has been ripped from me."

"I know, my dear," he says, just as quietly as I'm speaking. "I sent him away. The bastard won't be coming back for a good few years so that gives you some time to better prepare yourself. At least you've got time on your side now."

I turn and look at Grandpa Niall quizzically. Something tells me we're not talking about the same person here. "I'm talking about Eric, Grandpa," I explain to him, trying not to laugh, but failing. "Who are you talking about? Or did you really send him away from me?" I can't imagine Grandpa Niall ever doing something so mean like that to me. I thought he cared? Surely he knows how much Eric's friendship means to me...

"Oh, I was talking about the bastard Warlow. Don't mind me then."

I feel a terrible feeling overcome me as I think back to my altercation with this Warlow psycho this morning. I hadn't met many crazy people in my time, but he certainly topped the cake, in my view. "Yeah, he came for me this morning and made me miss a whole frigging day of school," I say to Grandpa, pulling up my legs into my chest and wrapping my arms around myself tightly for comfort. "Gran got real angry, and I think she's still pretty annoyed with me. I didn't know what to do, when he was there. All I could think of doing was running away. I ended up hiding in a tree, and he almost found me, but for some reason he left before he could see where I was. I guess luck was on my side today."

"There was no luck that played a part today with Warlow," Niall says, and I find him looking at me in a strange way. "I knew you were in trouble. I lured him away from you, with my scent. Apparently the bastard couldn't differentiate between yours and mine, so it worked to my advantage. I managed to banish him into another dimension and I sealed the portal up magically. He won't be coming back for you anytime soon."

I had wondered where Grandpa Niall had gotten off to at the time. I thought he had just disappeared and left me out on my own to fend for myself against Warlow. Apparently not. Apparently he was there, looking out for me after all, and I just didn't know. "You have the power to banish him away?" I ask Grandpa, bewildered. "You did that so he won't be coming back for a couple of years?"

"I did, yes," Niall says, almost proudly. "Some consider me a very powerful old man."

I smile at him softly. "Somehow I don't find that hard to believe, Grandpa. But thank you. It means a lot to me to know you're looking out for me, somehow."

Reaching over, he takes one of my hands in his, giving it a light squeeze. "You're my Granddaughter," he reminds me tenderly, "What else could I do? You didn't think I'd just let the bastard get to you and cause you harm, did you?"

Grandpa Niall does love me and wants what is truly best for me, I realize. It makes my heart feel heavy in my chest with appreciation for him.

"Unfortunately, he will be coming back," Grandpa Niall continues after a moment, with nothing but seriousness in his voice. "He won't be gone forever, and when he does come back, he'll be back with a vengeance, no doubt. Something happened before I banished him, something beyond my control. He caught several glimpses of the future, things you don't know about yet. Because he is part fairy, he has ability to read the mind, as you and I can. He saw a few things, things that'll probably eat at his mind obsessively before he manages to get his way back into this dimension."

Grandpa Niall has gone on about this for a while; telling me he has seen into the future. I wish he would tell me, because sometimes he sends cryptic comments my way. Like how I could have chosen far worse than Eric, whatever that means. "How come you always say cryptic things about the future, Grandpa? How much have you seen?"

"I have seen way more than I ought to have, especially in the way of my Granddaughter and what she does in her own private life, and with whom." I stare at him. Grandpa Niall just looks very embarrassed, like he has seen and witnessed something he shouldn't have of me. It only makes me more curious to know what he has seen.

"You can't do that, Grandpa," I tell him sternly. "You can't just lure me in with comments, and then cruelly cut the cord on me. Why haven't you ever shown me a little bit of what you've seen?"

Grandpa looks away from me quickly, staring at an unknown something in the dark yard. I think he looks somewhat miserable and regretful. "I am afraid I can't, my dear."

"But why not? Have you ever thought that maybe I'm interested in knowing?"

"It's not good to know things ahead. I would prefer for you to just go along and figure it out for yourself when the timing is right."

"But that's unfair," I say in frustration. "You know everything about what's going to happen in the future obviously. So how could it hurt for me to know, too? I mean, it's my future after all, isn't it? Isn't it fair to me?"

"I shouldn't, but trust when the timing is right, that you'll know precisely what I'm talking about."

"Can I ask you just one thing then?" I ask him eagerly. "Just one small thing, and it won't be a big deal for me to know ahead of time when it comes to this. Eric said we'll meet sometime in the future. Can you just tell me that little thing? Do we meet again in the future, like he said?"

I can tell Grandpa is debating whether to tell me that. But then he sighs and shrugs in surrender. "You two will meet again, but it won't be as it is now. That is as far as I'm telling you, dear."

So Eric and I will meet again, sometime soon, in the future. I sigh in relief. At least I won't lose his friendship forever. It isn't the end for us. I feel excited about knowing and not having to worry too much or feel too sad about losing the only person I have closest to me for so long, but at the same time, Grandpa's other comment leaves my head in a whirl. We'll meet, but it won't be as it is now? What's that supposed to mean?

"What do you mean by that, Grandpa?" I press him nervously. "Everything won't be as it is now? Meaning what, exactly? We'll still be friends, right? We'll still be good buddies, won't we?"

"Friends?" He snorts under his breath and I feel myself panicking more and more by the second.

"Why did you say it like that? Why did you do a little scoffing thing?"

Grandpa Niall heaves out a loud sigh while holding his hands out to me. I have no idea what he is trying to do, but I think he wants me to take them. "Take hold of my hands," he encourages me, a little annoyed. "You wanted to know, but I suppose it'll ease your mind better if I show you. I will give you a glimpse- not all of it- but some, enough to put your mind at ease."

Surrendering, I reach out cautiously and place my hands in his. I feel the dryness of his skin, as he clasps mine tightly in his. And then suddenly, it tears through his mind, into mine. Images. Glimpses of the future that awaits.

A brightly lit bar, with red pulsating lights. A stage and Eric, sitting there in an old chair. Then everything distorts and cracks and Eric's undoing the studs on the black shirt he's wearing with unsteady hands, for whatever reason... Eric and I in a bed, rolling around in the sheets... Eric hovering on top of me, face above mine, staring down at me as if I'm in some way desirable to him... Eric leaning down for a... kiss... Using his tongue to lick around my collar-bone while I lift myself up, opening my mouth up and moaning. Something a pair of good friends never do to one another, unless...

Disturbed, I manage to wriggle my hands out of my Grandpa's grip and everything finally stops. I'm just on the porch again, my usual self, and Grandpa Niall is still here, watching me carefully, probably taking in my reaction to everything. What I saw was hardly anything I was expecting. Why would Eric and I be doing something like that, though? Why would we be doing such... such gross things together? Surely Grandpa is wrong, though. Maybe he is playing with me? Eric and I would never do that together. Especially not since we're just friends. Why the hell would we do something like that in the future?

Too much. Ugh, it's too much. My stomach reels as I close my eyes tightly, pressing my back into the seat. I feel like I want to throw up. Once I finally reopen my eyes again, Grandpa Niall is still watching me, but he looks also worried for me.

"You wanted to know, and I showed you," he says quietly. "It really isn't my fault if you didn't like what you saw, dear."

"But why?" I ask him, fighting the impulse to show my disgust by scrunching up my face. "Why would Eric and I do something like that? It's... eww, and he's my buddy. Friends don't do gross things like that to each other?"

"Things change in time, dear. Feelings change, and you change. You won't be the same little girl as you are now forever, and Eric will see that." My face must look hilarious, because Grandpa Niall laughs suddenly. He pats me on my shoulder. "Don't be so surprised. It's natural."

"I'm sorry, but I can't say I believe you. I know you're saying it'll happen that way in the future, however many... years away it'll be, but Eric and I doing that..." I toss my head, at a loss for words. "I just can't see it ever happening. Not ever."

"Well, as I said, things change. Believe it or don't believe it, its your choice. It'll find its own way of happening regardless of you believing in it or not."

"I just can't ever see myself seeing Eric that way," I tell him truthfully. "No less can I actually see Eric viewing me that way, enough to actually... do those things together. It's just gross."

"You don't think Eric felt much the same once he learned of it himself? He hardly believed it himself, but once I showed him, it convinced him well. Well, enough to do his bit in helping prepare you for Warlow and making sure he stuck around whenever he could afford the time to..."

Oh, hell. Eric knew? Eric knew we'd be more than friends in the future, even before I did? "You showed Eric all of this?" I ask Grandpa incredulously. "He already knows what's gonna happen?"

"Of course I showed him, I had to. Otherwise, his assistance in helping protect you never would have happened. He wanted something in return, you see. But once I showed him why you were so special and why he needed to become involved, I think he understood. At first, he was reluctant to meet you, since he doesn't think much of children like yourself. But we came to an understanding eventually, and, as you already know, he has seemed to warm up to you over the years."

All this talking has left me feeling so beat. It is probably way past my bedtime and I have school to get through tomorrow. "Grandpa, I've really got to get to bed now. I'm tired. Besides, Gran will probably be wondering why I'm not inside."

"That's all right. I understand, my dear. I probably won't see you for a while."

It stings, hearing him say that, so casually. First Eric leaves me, and now Grandpa Niall is also?

"For how long for?" I ask him worriedly. "For how long will you be away for?"

"You'll hear from me again soon enough," he assures me. He reaches over and touches my cheek. "No matter what, try to remember that you are not alone. No matter how you are feeling, dear heart, you will always have people there for you. Remember there is nothing weird nor strange about you, because of what you are and what you can do. It might feel that way sometimes, but it isn't the truth."

I try to take his words deep into my heart, although it feels hard. "Thanks, Grandpa. I'll try to keep seeing it that way."

Once inside, I told Gran I was getting an early night, then I got upstairs into my bedroom, closing the door all the way shut and reveling in the peace and quiet all to myself. I still feel this heaviness in my heart, even as I distract myself in getting into a long Mickey Mouse T-shirt for bed. As I crawl under the covers of my bed, I think I take that heavy heart with me, all the way into dream land.

(Sookie is Seventeen)

"That's not how you do it, Sook. Let me show you, girl, 'cause you're doing it all wrong."

Tara snatches the compact of eye shadow she brought me for my birthday and takes over, telling me to close my eyes tight until she says not to. I have never been allowed to wear much makeup before- Gran's orders- but finally she made a deal with me that now I'm seventeen I can wear as much makeup as I want. Since I'm not sure how to do it right, Tara's taking over and helping me out so now my eyelids will hopefully be a pretty glittery gold. Once she's done with my eyes, she makes me let her put a full face of makeup on, going heavy with the red lipstick and everything.

Gran probably isn't going to be too pleased, but it is my birthday.

Today is my seventeenth birthday, and Gran kind of forced me into letting her throw me a party to celebrate it. It isn't really a big party, just one with all those I'm closest to around me, excluding my fairy Grandpa and Eric, of course. My best friend Tara Thornton is here, as well as Jason's best friend Hoyt Fortenberry. That's it, and I don't have many friends aside from Tara at school, but I'm completely fine with that. One girlfriend is better than none.

"Okay, open your eyes now and take a look at yourself," Tara orders and I open my eyes slowly, coming face-to-face with a girl I don't recognize in the mirror. It takes me a second to realize that girl is me. Makeup can make you look so different. "What do you think, Sook?"

"I think Gran is gonna get into a huff," I tell her. "But I like it. I feel more like a woman, in a sense."

"You look good. Real pretty. Who gives a fuck what Gran Adele thinks, really?"

"I do," I admit, pursing my lips to get the lipstick even. "But come on. Let's go downstairs."

Once night begins to close in on us, I'm already exhausted. It's been a big day of sitting around chatting about stupid things, watching Jason try to work out the barbeque and eating lots of the pie Gran made for my birthday for dessert. I sit down on the two-seat couch with Tara, listening in while her and Jason talk about his plans after he finishes high school, drifting in and out in listening to them and thinking to myself.

I think Jason's trying to flirt with Tara and obviously it is working, because she seems real engaged in what he is telling her. But then I feel it and I find it hard to concentrate. It has been so long since I've felt his presence near. Too damn long. No doubt he knows its my birthday today, and I haven't seen him in a little over two years. Maybe he has come to wish me happy birthday? Maybe I'll finally get the chance to see him again?

I turn and look towards the front door anxiously. Maybe he is waiting outside for me on the porch? Without caring what I'm doing or how suspicious it'll look, I spring off the couch onto my feet and race out into the hallway towards the front door. I can feel my heart pounding with excitement as I fling the front door open and run out onto the porch, looking around desperately.

And ... nothing. No Eric to be seen anywhere. But how come I felt him near just then?

Where is he?

I stop and look around the porch and, there, sitting on the bottom step, is a little gift bag. I know it is from him, I just know it. But where is Eric himself? Seeing him again would have been the greatest gift of all... Screw presents.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity to see him, I leap down the porch steps and I run, through the grass in the yard, barefooted, hoping to catch at least one glance of him before he is gone again for good. Only he's nowhere. I can't see him anywhere. Why didn't he wait to say hi to me? Damn him!

"Uh, Sookie?" I hear Tara call nervously from where she stands on the porch, staring out at me. I bet I'm looking like such a fool. "What you doing out here, girl? Why'd you come out here for?"

"Oh, nothing." I work a smile on my face, despite all the hurt it brings me. Damn him for getting my hopes up. I really want to see him again. "No reason, Tara." Panting from my sudden bout of exercise and feeling deeply miserable, I walk slowly back up towards the porch, where she stands around, waiting from me. I can see she's looking at the red gift bag waiting for me.

"Who's that from?" Tara asks me, without taking her eyes off the red gift bag. "You got a secret admirer you're not telling me about, Sook?"

I have to fight the impulse to laugh. "Nope, it's no secret admirer, Tara. I promise, and besides, if it was, you know I'd never keep it from you, right?"

"Hmmm, you better not." She sinks down on the steps and I do the same, sitting beside her. I can't help scanning the yard for any sight of him, even though I know he's gone again. "So what's in the bag?"

"Not sure. Haven't looked yet."

"Why not?" She bops her shoulder against mine playfully. "You scared?"

Am I scared? Hell, no. "I'm not scared, Tara. No way."

"You want me to see what it is then?"

"Go for your life, girl." I watch as Tara shoves her hand in the bag, feeling around curiously. I have no idea what's inside it myself, no less who got it for me. Well, I sort of do. I have a few hunches, and I'm assuming I'm right with that hunch. "Is there a card or anything?"

"Yep," she answers me, pulling an envelope out, as well as a rectangular box. It's red, as well as the bag, of course. Whoever sent me it must sure like the color red. "What first, Sook? The card or the box?"

"The card. Let's see who sent it."

Grinning at me widely, like the gift is for her and not me, Tara pulls open the card and peeks inside. "Thought you might be needing this," she reads slowly, with a puzzled look on her face. She peers up at me with a question in her dark eyes as she closes the card up. "There's no name or anything though, Sook. Wonder what it is this mysterious sender thinks you need?"

"Open the box," I goad her, my voice high with excitement. Now I feel intrigued myself.

She opens the box carefully and we both sit there in silence for a good few minutes, both fascinated and spooked out. It's a steel-plated knife. Eric got me a dagger as a gift. Tara turns it around with her fingers carefully, fixated as the edge of the blade glistens in the lights on the porch. The blade is awfully sharp and it looks helpful in defending yourself and seriously maiming somebody, if you had to. It'll definitely come in handy as a weapon to carry in my purses with me everywhere I go, so I'm always prepared in advance for anything thrown my way. The blade is sharp and long enough that I can envision myself impaling a vampire in the chest with it easily.

"Why the fuck would somebody think you were needing a knife, Sook?" Tara asks fearfully. "Do you have any idea who sent you it?"

"Nope, none," I lie easily. "I got no idea who sent it or why, Tara."

"You think we should tell Gran Adele about this?"

"No, we better not. Let's just keep it to ourselves, all right?" I can tell Tara is conflicted on whether to tell Gran about it, or not. I can hear it in her thoughts. But she can't tell Gran, she just can't. "Please, Tara, don't be telling Gran about this, okay? She'll freak out, and she doesn't need to freak out. Neither do you."

"You in serious trouble, Sook?"

Since I see no way of getting out of this lightly, I decide I might as well tell someone the truth. Not all parts of the truth, but some. Besides, I know Tara well; I can trust her. "Maybe I am in trouble." I smile at her tentatively. "Just a little. You see, Tara, there's someone out there who wants to hurt me, so I gotta keep myself ready for when he comes again. I narrowly escaped him once."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Nothing that you need to be concerned about. It's just something I've got to deal with on my own, Tara." Pretending to be carefree, I throw my arm over her shoulder. "I got a special friend who knows the trouble I'm dealing with, and I'm willing to bet he was the one who gave me that knife as a gift."

"What kind of special friend? What you mean by that?"

Damn it. I almost wish Eric would come and rescue me from her questions. Heaven knows I could use rescuing right now before I told her too much. "I just have this friend who has helped me since I was eight years old. He's a... you know, a vampire."

My words do the opposite effect from what I wanted, in easing her mind. Tara's eyes widen as my words slowly sink in and it only makes her stress even more. "What? Since when have you been dealing with vamps, Sook?"

"Tara, you really don't need to worry," I promise her seriously. "I have it all under control, believe me. And vampires, they aren't so bad. Not the one I know, anyway."

"Sure." She rolls her eyes at me and laughs. "Yeah, right."

"But it's true," I insist. "If it wasn't for him, you mightn't even be sitting with me right now. I wouldn't have made it to my seventeenth birthday, not without any help in advance preparing me for what's coming."

"And what about me, huh? I can't help you?"

"Well, no offense, Tara, but its kind of beyond your level of expertise."

"Since when did you turn into such a little bitch, Sook?" Just as I'm about to get seriously offended, Tara winks at me and lays the knife down carefully on the step before moving in closer to slide her arms around me for a hug; All instantly forgiven between us.

(Sookie is twenty-one)

Putting on a pair of shorts, trainers, a comfy T-shirt and my work vest, I hop in the car and start on my way to work. The instance I finished my school education, I had applied for a few jobs around town, landing one at Super-Save-A-Bunch, a department store that sells all various types of things at a low, discount price. The pay isn't all that good, it's just decent, but the best part about working at Super-Save-A-Bunch isn't so much about how much of a wage I earn, but who I work with. Tara scored a job for herself there as well, so just our luck we get to work together every day. It starts off as the same old day, how it usually is. Customers come and go in irregular intervals and Tara and I mostly stand around, talking to ourselves. By the time six thirty at night arrives, the department store is dead quiet, as it usually is, so we make the time go quicker by chatting.

"Can't wait 'till I can save enough money so I can leave this shitty-ass town," Tara is complaining to me, while going through the catalogue boredly. "My mama is driving me crazy, Sook. Wish she'd just keel over and die already."

"Still that bad, huh?" I ask her sympathetically. Poor Tara has had trouble with her Mama Lettie May for years now. Even when we were kids, her mama was always real terrible with her. "Well, whenever you thinking of leaving, do make sure you tell me, all right? Because I wouldn't mind coming along with you and seeing the world for a bit. This town is way too small and uneventful." Sometimes I often wished Warlow would come so I had something to do, crazy and suicidal as that sounds. I could certainly benefit from putting that knife Eric got me as a gift on my seventeenth birthday to some good practice. It'd be good for something exciting to happen to me for once.

I wish I could swallow my words back in the instance he comes into the store.

I know the instance he saunters in that he is a vampire. I can't hear an ounce of his thoughts- just as I couldn't Eric- and he has a kind of allure about him, that I've decided most vampires have about themselves. He isn't as impressive as my childhood friend, of course. He's about five foot nine, and the clothes he has chosen to wear for the evening don't scream anything noticeable or different about him. I think he's almost like a vampire who just wants to blend in, and not be taken any notice of. He has thick brown hair and sideburns, which are real old-fashioned and hardly something you see much on guys around town, and he's wearing plain denim jeans and a brown shirt, which makes him look like any regular person on the outside.

But I know he is one the instance he enters. I guess it helps that I had been acquainted with a vampire at an early age.

Tara gives him no more than a fleeting glance as he walks away from us, looking around.

I feel so happy for some reason. Happy to have a vampire around again, as silly as that probably sounds. And I find I have to share my delight with Tara. "Tara, did you know that guy who just walked in is a vampire?"

"Seriously? He's a vamp? I had no damn idea. What you think he is here for?"

"I don't know." I turn and stare at him, forgetting my manners. He seems confused by all the items we have in store. I see him checking out the outside displays we have with interest. "Maybe he's hoping to buy an outdoor setting for his yard or something?"

"You think vampires do something like that? Something so normal?"

"No idea," I admit, shrugging.

I stand near the service desk, watching him surreptitiously while I have the chance as he looks around at all the garden utensils in the aisle. He looks like a man lost at sea. Well, a vampire lost at sea, more like it. I can't believe no one else seems to notice what he is. My manager Waylon definitely doesn't seem to notice anything different about him, not even as he smiles at him pleasantly while walking past him, checking stock. Taking matters into my own hands, I approach him, clearing my throat loudly to get his attention. I can spot a person in need of assistance when I see one.

"Hey there," I say, the customary greeting. "Welcome to Super-Save-A-Bunch. Is there anything I can help you with? You look pretty confused."

"Ah, yes, good evening. I was wondering if, by any chance, you had any synthetic bottled blood available? I looked online and I do believe it said you had it here with a half price discount."

Unable to help myself, I burst out laughing. It's just been too, too long since I have had the pleasure of being around a vampire. It makes me miss Eric, I can't pretend it doesn't.

He raises his dark eyebrows at me, giving me a peculiar look. "Uh, is something that I have said funny? I... I do not recall making any jests?"

I laugh again. "No, of course not," I get out, struggling to keep my face straight. "It's just that you're standing in the garden aisle. I'm pretty sure you won't find no Tru Blood's in this aisle, but we do have some available in the refrigerator section, out front near the service desk. I guess you just walked past it without noticing, huh?"

"I guess I did, yes." He gives me a small smile as he runs his grey eyes down my blue work vest, and I think I catch him reading my name tag. "Uh, if you wouldn't mind, would you be so kind as to show me whereabouts they are?"

"Of course! I'd be none the merrier to!"

I lead him back the way he entered, turning and making sure he is following me. As we reach the refrigerator section with the big Tru Blood sign on front, I gesture awkwardly with my hands.

"So, here they are. We got all types, so just help yourself."

"Thank you." Nodding and not being sure what else to do, I turn to go. "Have you worked here long?" He suddenly asks me, stopping me dead in my tracks. Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to want to make small-talk with somebody like me.

"Um, just a couple of years. Usually it isn't very busy at this time of the night," I tell him conversationally. "We don't get many customers in the evenings. We don't get many vampires in here, neither. I'm pretty sure you're our first, so congratulations on that!"

I see him look me over again, as if he is really trying to figure me out. "You don't seem particularly nervous about being around a vampire then, do you?"

"That's because I have no good reason to be," I tell him proudly. "Besides, I'm used to it." I swat my head inwardly for revealing that. I shouldn't have said it, but it's too late to take it back now, and he's caught onto it. He says as much next.

"You're used to it?" he asks me, with some disbelief in his tone.

"I am. I used to know somebody who was a vampire when I was a little girl. He was the... coolest person I'd ever met. He was my best friend, but not so much anymore. We've kinda lost contact and I don't really know how to reach him." Talking about Eric is like a wound opening up. What I would give to see him again. "Heard he runs a vampire bar, though."

Something comes over the vampires face at that. "You wouldn't be talking about Fangtasia now, would you?"

"Fangtasia?" I have never really heard of such place before. I don't recall Eric ever telling me the name of the bar he worked at, which would have helped some a lot.

"Well, yes. It is the only vampire bar in Louisiana. In Shreveport. I happen to know the place well."

"Do you, now?" I feel myself perking up with real interest. "I don't mean to sound real forward or nothing, but how would you like to take me some night?"

I can tell I have really surprised him. "You would like for me to take you to Fangtasia? As in a date?"

"Oh, no! No date! I don't date!" I laugh loudly. I'm still stuck on this supposed future my Grandfather showed me. It hadn't happened as yet, Eric and I, and I wasn't too positive it ever would. "People think I'm way too weird to consider dating me! In fact, people think I'm crazy in general. So no, it wouldn't be a date or anything of the sort. You don't need to worry!"

"Well, date or not, I would be delighted to."

His quick agreement shocks me. I'm not expecting that. At all. "Really?" I ask him, not really believing. "So you'll show me this vampire bar?"

"As I said, I would be delighted to."

"Well, that'd be so kind of you." This leaves me nowhere else to go, conversationally. So I just stare at him, trying not to seem too happy. But I'm smiling so hard my face starts hurting. "Oh, what's your name?"

"Bill. And you are Sookie."

"My God. How'd you know my name?" I ask him, feeling a bit spooked.

"Why, your name tag, of course."

"Oh, right. Of course. God, I'm so silly. But thank you, Bill. I'd be a real happy girl if you would take me to that bar."

"Consider it done, then. When is your next night off?"

"Tomorrow night."

"Then, at sunset. You'll just have to tell me where to pick you up from so that we can go together?" So happily, I do.