It took Eva four nights to find her way to Nevada. She was expecting some sort of supernatural tug back to Eric all the while, she wasn't sure how it worked. But she neither heard nor saw Eric, mentally and in reality. Had he granted her freedom or did he simply not care?

Eva initially figured the king would be residing in Carson City, or Las Vegas, then later wondered (halfway to the capital city) whether they'd be lying low. She suddenly realised she was drifting around the state like a leaf in the wind with no clue where to look for a vampire who is quite likely to be dead.

This didn't stop the girl who's will was astonishing to the even the oldest of vampires.

She realised if the King and his entourage was in hiding after the attacks, there was little chance of her discovering them. She had firstly headed to the capital city, but in all the vampire bars and dens she could stumble across she gathered the king was no longer in the city. She headed to Las Vegas after that, and did the same rounds. She gathered the King had a den there as well, but he wasn't there at the moment. She considered waiting, but it could be months before they came back, even years.

It felt like a wild goose chase for a long time, until the night Eva reached Reno.

She had found her way to the local vampire bar, and standing at the entrance and looking at the neon red and black signs, she felt sure all vamp clubs sported the same décor. The female vampire on the door even somewhat reminded her off Pam, lacking the charisma her former mentor had of course. The woman was clad in a latex outfit that reminded her of Pam though.

She shot Eva a seductive smile as Eva sauntered through the door. Eva was starting to understand the necessaries of having the attitude and airy disposition in the vampire world. In the few weeks, almost a month now, she'd wandered around Nevada; she'd acquired a much more confident attitude. When she walked into a room she was no longer the brave but slightly nervous girl who could be shocked easily. She was the breezy woman with the smouldering smile. She still upheld her approachable sweetness of a southern bell, yet she had the darker edge that was apparent in every smile and every word. Eva hadn't noticed this change in her demeanour, this rapid growth in her maturity, but she wore it well.

Inside the bar was also the same types of people one would expect at Fangtasia, and after weeks of circulating places like this in search of hide or hair of the King or any of his employees, Eva walked through full of nerve.

Eva was still abstaining from feeding of humans, and it was still hard as ever. Her personal promise to herself was stronger than any physical urge though. There were still cracks and close shaves though, like in her first week.

It was crowded, and the bar teemed with fangbangers and silly curious youth. They gazed at Eva longingly as she wandered to the far end of the bar, so she could avoid as much attention as possible. She smoothed her purple skirt down calmly as she perched on the stool and smiled at the bartender, who looked something close to interested to see new vampire face in the bar.

"A negative," Eva requested before he could bother asking. Nodding with a grin the bartender reached into a fridge underneath the bar, and extracted the large red bottle, and deftly popping the cap off.

The bartender was a vaguely handsome man, though he was scarred; presumably in his past life. He had rough skin, that must have been even worse before his vamp genes smoothed out what they could, and sandy hair that was tousled and messy but attractive. His hard jaw line made him less attractive though, it gave him a harsh edge. His luring smile did more in the way of looking creepy than softening to rough look to him.

"New?" he purred with all the seductiveness of a cat. It took Eva by surprise; the voice almost didn't match the face. It made her all the more wary.

"Yes actually, I arrived in Reno earlier tonight," she told him amicably, and then added, "Nice bar."

"You don't need to be polite," the bartender joked, handing her her drink. Eva smiled, taking a long much appreciated sip. "Where are you from?"

Eva considered this for a moment. This was a complicated question. She was born in Michigan, and then she was born again in Louisiana. Moreover, should she be talking too easily to strangers about herself? She was just about living day to day in the vampire world; did she want to stir up more trouble for herself by making herself known in another state? She was unsure about their laws, but decided she couldn't be bothered keeping up with webs of lies.

"Louisiana," she said quietly. She wasn't choosing her vampire birth over her human one; she just didn't want to bring up the bombings in Michigan.

The gruff bartender nodded with his sly smile, and Eva looked at her drink. Whenever she held True Blood, she reminded the liquid gushing over her fingers as she smashed the bottle as her desire began to better her. The haunting memory was a blessing in disguise; it reminded her how liberating it was abstain. Every time she held True Blood, she remembered how wonderfully she was upholding her promise; she was conquering her very own nature.

"The Louisiana Queens in a bad way right now, is that right?" the bartender asked randomly, shaking Eva away from her delicious pride.

Eva shrugged instantly; she didn't even know the queen of Louisiana's name. The bartender nodded, but looked suspicious and Eva sighed, setting her drink down.

"Honestly, I'm not big on politics, and I know nothing about Louisiana's queen, sorry."

"It's okay; it's just widely known she's pretty damn vulnerable right now, being all down and out and everything."

Eric and Pam's conversation the night Eva awoke flashed back to her, they referred to being vulnerable to takeover now. That was all Eva had heard on the matter, and assuming the queen was in a bad way due to the bombings, Eva just nodded and took another sip. Again, she didn't want to bring up the bombings.

Sipping the artificial life force, and looking at the solid dark wood of the bar she tuned into the conversations of those around her. Like she'd done almost every night, she combed the voices for mention of a familiar name. It was there, amongst the inane chatter and sex talk; she heard the faint yet definable muffled moans of a human girl. A human girl resisting, a human girl who was struggling against whatever was happening to her.

"Excuse me," Eva announced bluntly, placing her drink down and slipping back into the bathroom.

The cries were unmistakable cries of pain, and Eva was sure no expert on vampire laws, but she did know it was illegal to feed in an establishment such as that, as was it illegal to feed on a human against their will.

Slinking through the corridors the restrained wails grew louder, and Eva's ears picked them up easily. She wondered why no one else had come to address the matter; surely she wasn't the only vampire in here that could hear the happenings.

There was two ways Eva could address this. Number one, she could burst in there like Jackie Chan and go ape crazy, take them by surprise. Number two; she could go tell someone of a higher authority. Either way, she would not tolerate the forced submission on the innocent girl. After a brief moment of careful consideration she decided that she was a vampire god dammit, and should learn to use it to her advantage.

She did not factor in the other vamps considerable age and the fact that blood, blood she so thoroughly crazed, was spilt.

Brushing her hair back, she poised herself, then in one quick pounce, she burst through the bathroom door and kicked open the stall. Her speed for an inexperienced vamp was impressive, but she'd spent a lot of time simply running around Nevada, she'd had a chance to stretch her legs. Her speed was her advantage and with a grunt she grabbed the tall well built vampire and flung him to the far end of the bathroom. He cracked the wall on impact, and luckily he was only a year or so on Eva and was dazed for a brief moment while Eva embraced the crying young blonde girl.

This was her downfall, as the girl threw herself forward with great faith she was safe now, Eva inhaled the scent of her smeared sweet blood. It made her stagger against the wall.

The somewhat young wild vampire gathered the situation, and in an enraged snarl he hurled himself at Eva. Eva was still quick, but with the girl's blood imprinted on her arms, she was less focused. She could have kicked him back easily, but instead as he leapt she only had the sense left to grab at his throat to hold her back. Eva's fangs were curled over her front teeth and her eyes were dark with blood lust.

The male vampire laughed a throaty laugh as Eva attempted to hold him away. With his free hand (his other holding Eva by the throat also) he snatched at her arm and pulled it close to his face, licking the girls blood in a grotesque mocking lick.

Eva screamed with disgust, and again taking the vampire whose great mistake was underestimating her by surprise, slapped him so hard he reeled backwards. In a heeled foot, she jumped backwards and swiftly kicked off from the cistern to hurl herself over him and out the stall. The bloodied girl was huddling in the corner of the bathroom, and Eva wished she'd go do something, get help, anything away from her.

The utterly crazed vampire now, leapt up and grabbed Eva's ankle, slamming her down onto the open bathroom floor. As he leapt to pounce in an animalistic way, another force flung him clean through the stall wall.

Eva could help, despite the dramatic situation, to let out a giggle at the sight of the great large man being flung around like a baseball. The girl finally took this as her cue to scurry from the bathroom, muttering sincere thank yous and clutching her bleeding neck. Silly as she was, she knew if she stuck around any longer she'd be dinner for all.

Eva, wondering what higher power was looking over her this time, stood and smoothed out her dress, smiling at the dark haired suave man nodding to her from the bathroom door.

"You are young," he snarled through a curled lip, and for a moment Eva thought he was talking to her, "and I'm sure despite your stupidity you can recognize the years I have on you, and of course do the maths of vampires in the room against you. Be smart."

"Down dog," Eva giggled, looking at the crouching offending vampire. He looked completely defiant for a moment, the grunted and nodded, admitting defeat.

The young handsome vampire extended a hand to Eva, and taking it graciously, she stepped over the cracks of stall wall plastic and out the room after him. Her luck seemed to have followed her to her afterlife.

"They seem as ignorant as pigs in this bar," he cooed in a sophisticated voice, linking Eva's arm and walking her down the corridor and out into the bar again. The vicious glares didn't bother Eva; she didn't care about these people. She let him sit her at a table and order two True Bloods.

"He says you didn't pay for your first drink," the too skinny waitress informed them, nodding to the indifferent bartender.

"Is this enough," the vampire across the table asked needlessly, thrusting way too much money for the drinks in the waitress's hand, and touching Eva's arm to tell her to get her hand out her purse. Gentlemanly, Eva thought amused. Though she'd been in rough scrapes before and had learnt not to be so trusting, so she merely sat back and waited for him to tell her about himself.

"I am Talbot," he told her, talking a controlled sip of his drink as the waitress set it down.

"I'm Eva," she replied honestly. Again, she couldn't be bothered with keeping up with lies. At this, Talbot smiled a bit too eagerly. Eva was too busy taking a hurried sip to notice though.

"Also not from around here then?"

"Louisiana," she replied again, gazing at him curiously. He was impeccably groomed, and wore obviously expensive clothes. He had very striking eyes, framed by long dark lashes. He seemed charming to a T, and Eva couldn't help but feeling quite taken with him. Not romantically, he was most obviously gay, but in a trusting way. Of course he had just saved her life, but maybe that was simply down to his chivalrous nature.

"You are quite silly, but for the most part brave," he told her, "To burst in there as young as you seam, to save a human you don't even know, it's possibly the silliest but bravest thing I've ever heard of."

"Feeding on unwilling humans is wrong, and you're right – there as ignorant as pigs in this bar to ignore the illegal incidents to not get involved."

"Maybe there all just cowardly?"

"Quite likely," Eva smiled.

"To heroics!" Talbot announced, lifting his bottle.

"To heroics," Eva laughed, chinking it pleasantly.